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TH'E FARM 



PUBLICATIONS OF GEO. E. & F. W. WOODWARD, 

37 PARK ROW, N. Y. 



Woodward's Country Homes. 

A practical work, with 1 22 Designs and Plans of Country 
Houses of moderate cost, with illustrated description of the man- 
ner of constructing Balloon frames. Extra binding. $1.50. 

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tural Buildings. 

A practical work on the Design and Construction of all classes 
of Buildings for Growing Plants and Ripening Fruit under Glass. 
60 illustrations. $1.50. 

The House. 

A New Manual of Rural Architecture ; or, How to Build 
Dwellings, Barns, Stables and Out-Buildings of all kinds. 
With a Chapter on Churches and School-Houses. Cloth. $1.50, 

* The Garden. 

A New Manual of Practical Horticulture ; or, How to Culti- 
vate Vegetables. Fruits and Flowers. With a Chapter on Orna- 
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The Farm. 

A New Manual of Practical Agriculture; or, How to Cul- 
tivate all the Field Crops. With an Essay on Farm Manage- 
ment, etc. Cloth- $1.00. 

The Barn-Yard. 

A New Manual of Cattle, Horse, an 1 Sheep Husbandry; or, 
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Animals. Cloth. $1.00. 

Either of the above sent post-paid on receipt of price. 



ESTABLISHED 1846. 

til H©ElieW£S¥SIi®» 

Two Dollars and fifty Cents per Annum. 
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE 

For every one who has a grapevine, a city yard, an acre lot, a 
garden, a vineyard, an orchard, a country seat, a farm, who has 
a house to build, outbuildings to erect, or a home to embellish 
and beautify. 

GEO. E. & F. W. WOODWARD, Publishers, No. 37 Park Bow, N. Y. 



THE FAKM: 



A MANUAL 

OF 



practical Agriculture; 

OR, HOW TO CULTIVATE 

ALL THE FIELD CROPS: 

EMBRACING 

A THOROUGH EXPOSITION OF THE NATURE AND ACTION OF SOILS AND MANURES 
THE PRINCIPLES OF ROTATION IN CROPPING; DIRECTIONS FOR IRRIGATING, 
DRAINING, SITBSOILING, FENCING, AND PLANTING HEDGES; DESCRIP- 
TIONS OF AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS; INSTRUCTIONS IN THE 
ClLTIVATION OF THE VARIOUS FIELD CROPS, ORCHARDS, 
ETC., ETC. ; 



WITH A MOST VALUABLE 



By D. H. JACQUES, 

Al'thor of "The Garden," "The House," "Domestic Animals," "How 
to do Business," " How to Behave," etc. 



To render agriculture more productive and benefieinl to all, it is necessary that its principles should 
be better understood, and that we should profit more from the experience of each other. 

Judge Bubl. 



:r, :e vised edition - . 

New fork: 

GEO. E. & F. W. WOODWARD, 

No. 37 Park Row, Office of " The Horticulturist." 
1866. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1SC6, by 

D. H. JACQUES, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
Southern District of New York. 



/-v )T NEW YORK 



I 



% 



EDWARD 0. JENKINS, PRINTER, 
20 NORTH WILLIAM ST. 



PREFACE. 



Believing that good books on farming can hardly be too greatly 
multiplied, and that a cheap manual, embodying not only compre- 
hensive practical directions for the cultivation of the various field 
crops, but also a brief exposition of the fundamental principles 
which underlie all the operations of the farm, is a special want 
it the present time, we have essayed, in the work now before the 
reader, to supply this lack. How well we have .succeeded, we leave 
it for the public to judge. 

In the details of cultivation we have been intentionally brief, 
because we believed that the mass of those intj whose hands this 
book would fall, stand less in need of these than of the information 
condensed into the first six or seven chapters. 

Having a correct notion of the fundamental principles of agri- 
cultural science, and with clear outlines of the common practical 
operations of farming before him, any intelligent man will readily, 
by means of observation and experience, make himself master of 
the minor details. Without the theoretical part, the rules of prac- 
tice laid down in most agricultural works are liable constantly to 
lead astray. 

In the preparation of this little book we have consulted a large 
number of the best agricultural works — American, English, French, 
and German — to some of which we have been largely indebted for 
facts and suggestions. In addition to the formal credit given in 
the body of the work, we take pleasure in mentioning the following 



vi Preface. 

works as among those from which we have received more or lesa 
valuable aid : 

Stephens' Book of the Farm. 

The American Farmer's Encyclopedia. 

Allen's American Farm Book. 

Agricultural Reports of the Patent Office. 

Fessenden's Complete Farmer. 

Thaer's Principles of Agriculture and Manures. 

Beatty's Southern Agriculture. 

White's Gardening for the South. 

Norton's Scientific Agriculture. 

Dana's Muck Manual. 

Boussingault's Economie Rurale. 

Downing's Fruits and Fruit Trees. 

Munn's Practical Land Drainer. 

Tucker's Annual Register. 

Harris' Rural Annual. 

The Country Gentleman. 

The American Agriculturist. 

The Southern Cultivator. 
Hoping that his little book will aid largely, in its humble way, 
in the promotion of agricultural progress, and prepare the way for 
many a larger and better work, the author most respectfully dedi- 
cates it 

TO THE YOUNG FARMERS OF AMERICA. 



INTRODUCTION 



Agriculture may be said to have had its origin when it waa 
ordained that man should earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. 
From that time to the present, among all nations and tribes of men, 
more or less attention has been given to the cultivation of the 
earth ; although in the earlier stages of social progress the prin- 
cipal reliance of mankind for subsistence has been first upon the 
chase, and then upon flocks and herds. Man is first a hunter, then 
a shepherd or herdsman, and then a farmer. 

Of the existence of agriculture as one of the prominent occupa- 
tions of the people among the ancient Israelites, we have many 
notices in the Bible. We gather from various scattered passages 
in the books of sacred history and prophecy that they had plows ; 
that they turned the soil up into ridges ; that they plowed with 
two oxen ; that they sowed the seed broadcast from a basket and 
plowed it in ; that they used hoes or mattocks for extirpating the 
weeds ; that when the grain was ripe they cut it with a sickle or a 
scythe ; that it was bound into sheaves and carried in carts imme- 
diately to the threshing floor or to the barn ; that threshing was 
variously performed by means of a threshing-machine or instru- 
ment (Isaiah xviii. 27. 28), cart wheels, the treading of horses and 
cattle, and beating with poles; and that the grain was winnowed 
by being thrown up against the wind by means of a shovel. 

Among the ancient Greeks, agriculture received great attention, 
and was evidently conducted with great skill and success ; in fact, 
it seems to have been much the same thing as at the present day, 
our superiority consisting more in the improved implements we use 
than in our better knowledge of the art and science of cultivation. 

1* 



viii Introduction. 

The Romans probably derived their knowledge of agriculture 
from the Greeks and other older nations, adding to it from their 
own experience. They well understood the nature of soils and the 
use of manures, and practiced irrigation and underdraining. Th< 
Roman farmers, Pliny tells us, were very particular in drawing 
straight and equal-sized furrows. They always plowed three times 
at least before they sowed. The furrows in the first plowing were 
usually nine inches deep. 

In the early days of Rome, when they praised a good man they 
called him an agriculturist and a good husbandman ; and he was 
thought to be very greatly honored who was thus praised. 

The first of modern countries to improve the practice of agri- 
culture was Flanders ; and the Flemings or Belgians have con- 
tinued to this day the model farmers of Europe. Their whole 
country resembles a series of gardens Their farms are small, and 
they devote their efforts to three grand points — the accumulation 
of manures, the destruction of weeds, and the frequent and deep 
pulverization of the soil. They were the first among the moderns 
to raise crops for the purpose of plowing them in. 

Nowhere at the present time is agriculture pursued with greater 
skill and success than in England ; and there is in that country a 
steady and continued progress both in the science and the art of 
cultivation. 

American agriculture commenced at the point which that of 
England had reached at the time her colonies were planted on the 
shores of the Western Continent. It has not kept pace, we are 
sorry to say, with that of the mother country. A virgin soil, 
abounding in all the elements of the highest fertility, and requir- 
ing at first but slight tillage to produce large crops, the abundance 
and cheapness of new lands, and the lack of persistent, steady 
effort, which soon became an American characteristic, led at once 
to a superficial and exhausting mode of cultivation which has re- 
sulted in reducing thousands of acres of once fertile soil to a bar- 
ren wilderness. 

But there has been a reaction. American husbandry is now 



Introduction. ix 

rapidly improving, and we shall not long be left behind by the 
leading agricultural nations of Europe. The old or exhaustive 
system is giving place to the new or fertilizing system, under which 
the productiveness of lands is constantly increased instead of being 
diminished. The worn-out lands of Virginia and the other old 
States have, in many instances, under the new system, been re- 
stored to more than their original fertility. This will go on 
till the older States will rival, if not excel, the new in productive- 
ness. 

The conditions requisite for the improvement of agriculture, and 
the elevation of the agriculturist to the high social position to 
which his contributions to the general welfare and the prosperity of 
the State entitle him, are thus happily stated by Hon. L. Chandler 
Ball, in a late agricultural address : 

" 1. By adopting a higher standard of education, both general 
and professional. 

" 2. By a more thorough cultivation of the soil, by which its fer- 
tility shall be increased, and permanently maintained. 

"3. By the more general introduction of improved implements 
of husbandry, by which farm and household labor may be mors 
easily and more economically performed. 

"4. By improving the breeds of domestic stock, and rearing only 
those animals which are the best of their respective kinds. 

''5. By growing only those roots, grains, grasses, and fruits 
which are the most nutritious and the most productive. 

" 6. By pursuing that particular branch of industry which gives 
the strongest probabilities of success; having reference to climate, 
soil, markets, and amount of foreign and domestic competition. 

"7. By making the business of farming attractive to educated 
men, and the farm-house and all its surroundings pleasant to re- 
fined taste and cultivated manners." 

The extensive demand for books on farming, and the wide circu- 
lation of agricultural papers and magazines, show that " a redeem- 
ing spirit" is truly abroad among our farmers. The vast amount 
of sound agricultural teachings which is now being almost univer- 



x Introduction. 

sally diffused, can not fail to show itself everywhere in a rapid and 
permanent improvement of our system of cultivation. 

But much still remains to be done. Ignorance and prejudice are 
obstinately blind and deaf. There is much of both to be yet over- 
come. We send this little book out into the world to aid as it may 
in the work. 



CONTENTS. 



I— SOILS. 

Importance of the Subject— The Organic and the Inorganic Parts of Soils- 
Origin of Each— Classification of Soils— Heavy Soils— Light Soils— Crops 
adapted to Each Sandy Soils— Clayey Soils-Limy Soils— Loamy Soils- 
Marly Soils— Alluvial Soils — Vegetable Molds - Subsoils— Analysis of Soils 
— Professor Johnson's Tabular View— The Causes of Fertility and of Barren- 
ness— How to Ascertain the Per-centage of Sand in any Soil— A Test for 
Lime— Physical Properties of Soils— Texture— The Value of the impalpable 
Powder in Soils -A Mechanical Analysis— Consistency of Soils— Depth of 
Soil— Colors of Soils— Humidity— Influence of Subsoils— Position and Form 
of Surface— Improvement of Soils— Management of Clayey Soils— Draining 
—The Addition of Sand, Lime, Plaster of Paris, etc.— Fall Plowing— Paring 
and Burning— Management of Sandy Soils— Vegetable or Peaty Soils— Man- 
agement of Subsoils- Subsoil Plowing— Benefits of Subsoiling Page 13 

n.— MANURES. 

Necessity of Manures— "Why the Soil of a Forest does not become Exhausted — 
Exhaustion of Cultivated Soils— Decrease of Productiveness of the Soils of 
New York — Instructive Facts— Land, like Animals and Plants, must be 
Fed— Food of Plants— Organic and Inorganic Substances found in Plants— 
Both made up from their Food— Where Plants obtain their Food— "What the 
Different Crops Take from the Soil- A Tabular View— Classification of Man- 
ures— Vegetable Manures— Green Crops as Manures— Advantages of Green 
Manures— Straw, Leaves, etc.— Sea-Weed— Composition of Sea-Weed— Cotton 
Seed — Turf— Swamp Muck— Great Value of Muck— Muck and Ashes— How to 
Compost Muck— Animal Manures— Stable Manures— Value of Urine— How to 
Preserve and Apply it— Waste of Manures by Fermentation— How to avoid it 
—Hog Manure— The Manure of Fowls— How to Treat it— Guano— Composition 
of Guano— Fish Manures— Night Soil— How to Preserve and Compost Night 
Soil— Flesh, Blood, etc., as Manures— Bones— Process of Dissolving Bones- 
Mineral Manures— Lime— Marls— Green Sand— Gypsum— Major Dickinson's 
Method of Applying Mineral Manures to Seeds— Common Salt— Other Salts 
—Ashes— Management of Manures— Fermentation— Overhauling Manures- 
Drawing Manure in Winter— A Caution in reference to Quicklime— Bury- 
ing Manure— Importance of Texture -Composts — Irrigation 26 



xii Contents. 

in.— ROTATION OF CROPS. 

Theory of Eotations — The Three Grand Classes of Crops— The Grain Crops - 
The Eoot Crops— The Grass Crops— Systems of Eotation— Benefits of Rota- 
tion in Cropping— Astonishing Neglect of a Great Source of Profit.. Page 43 

IV.-- DRAINING. 

Bad Effects of Excess of Moisture- How Draining remedies them— Ten Seasons 
for Underdraining— Conditions Eequiring Drainage — Practical Directions- 
Examination of the Field — Draining Springy Ground — Direction of Drains- 
Depth and Distance Apart — Digging — Implements -A Ditcher's Level— Ma- 
terials and Construction— Brush-Wood Drains- Stone Drains — Different 
kinds of Stone Drains— Tile Drains— Eationale of their Action— Will Drain- 
ing Pay ?— A Farmer's Eeply— Some Facts— Estimates- Economy of Tiles 51 

V.— FENCES. 
Eequisites of a Good Fence— "Various kinds of Fence— Stone Fence— The Zig- 
zag Fence— Posts and Eails— The best Wood for Posts— Board Fence The 
Sunken Fence- The Wire Fence Illustrated— Cost of Wire Fence— Wire 
Netting— Hurdle Fence— Hedges— Causes of Failure in Cultivating Hedges 
—The best Hedge Plants— Directions for Planting and Trimming— Hedges 
for the South— How to Form a Hedge of Cherokee or Macartney Eose— A 
Hint or Two— Are Fences Necessary ?— No Fences in France, Belgium, etc. 
—The Ohio Farmer's Opinion 61 

VI. -AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS AND THEIR USE. 
The Plow— Ancient Plows— Modern Improvements-The Eagle Plow— The 
—Michigan Plow— The Double Mold-Board Plow— The Subsoil Plow -The 
Harrow The Cultivator— The Horse Hoe -The Field Boiler— Seed Sowers 
— The Horse Eake— Mowers, Eeapers, etc.— Conclusion 73 

VII.-FARM MANAGEMENT. 

Introductory— Capital — Livestock— Implements— Seeds— Labor— Eecapitula 
tion of Estimates Size of Farm— Laying Out Farms Fences— Gates— Build- 
ings— Choice of Implements— Choice of Animals— Soils and their Manage- 
ment— Manures— Eotation of Crops— Operations in Order of Time — Conclu- 
sion 82 

VIII.— FARM CROPS. 

Indian Corn— Wheat— TJye— The Oat— Barley— Eice-Buckwheat— Millet- 
How to Shock Grain— Potato— Sweet Potato— Turnip— Kohl Eabi— Carrot— 
Parsnep— Beet— Chinese Yam— The Grasses— Timothy— Meadow Grass — 
Eed Top— The Fescue Grasses— Orchard Grass— Egyptian Grass— German 
Millet or Hungarian Grass— The Clovers— Other Grasses— Cotton— Sugar- 
cane — Chinese Sugar-Cane — Imphee — Broom Corn — Flax — Hemp — 
Hops .100 

IX.— THE ORCHARD. 

Laying Out Orchards— Squares— Quincunx— Soil and Situation— Planting- 
Cultivation— Profits of Apple Culture , 14C 



THE FARM 



i. 

SOILS. 

For the reason that a plant would die in a vacuum, for the same reason it would die in a soj 
destitute of the bases Decessary for its organic constitution For to live iB to com- 
bine, and without elements no combination would be possible.— llaspaU. 

I.— CLASSIFICATION OF SOILS. 








HEN selecting a farm, or when entering 
y upon the cultivation of one already in 
possession, the farmer should, first of 
^ | £> all, turn his attention to an investiga- 

'aW* tion of the various soils of which its surface is 
^ composed. These form the basis of all his oper- 
ations ; and his success will depend in no small 
^\_r^_ degree upon the skill with which he avails him- 
self of the capabilities and adaptations of each. He should be 
familiar with their several characteristics, understand the va- 
rious methods of improving them, and know to what crops 
each is best adapted. To aid him in this investigation is the 
object of this chapter. 

All soils adapted to agricultural purposes are composed of two 
classes of substances- -organic and inorganic. The inorganic 



14 The Farm. 

parts are derived from the decay of animal and vegetable mat- 
ter. There must have been a time, in the geological history of 
the earth, when the soil was destitute of these elements. A low 
grade of animal and vegetable life was possible without them. 
Living things found nourishment in the crumbled rocks, which 
formed the primitive soil. Enriched by their decay, it became 
capable of sustaining a higher order of existence. The result 
gradually attained, we see in the present condition of the earth's 
surface. 

The organic part of the soil is generally called vegetable 
mold, but scientific writers designate it as humus. To be fertile, 
a soil must contain a considerable portion of this organic mat- 
ter ; but we know of no rule by which to determine precisely 
what quantity is essential. Probably from five to ten per cent, 
must be present in all permanently rich, strong soils. 

Besides ministering directly to the growth of plants, by fur- 
nishing them with a portion of their necessary food, this vege- 
table mold or humus promotes fertility by improving the tex- 
ture of the soil, making sandy land more tenacious and clayey 
land more friable ; and by giving it a darker color, and thus 
increasing its power of absorbing heat. More than fifty per 
cent, of humus, however, in a moist soil has an injurious effect, 
rendering it what is called sour. 

We have already hinted at the origin of the inorganic por- 
tions of the soil, in speaking of the crumbled rocks which nour- 
ished the first living things. The process of decomposition or 
crumbling down is still going on under our eyes. Some rocks 
crumble very slowly, others more rapidly ; but all wear away 
more or less. Each rock gives its own peculiar character to the 
soil which it forms. 

Of the various soils several distinct classifications may be 
made. It will be well for us, at the outset, to consider them 
all as embraced in two grand classes — heavy or light. The dis- 
tinction indicated by these terms is familiar to every farmer. 
He knows, too, that it is a predominance of clay AVhich consti- 
tutes a soil heavy, and that an excess of sand or gravel makes a 



Soils. 15 

soil what is called light. "We will look at these two classes of 
soils a little more in detail. 

1. Heavy Soils. — Heavy soils, also often denominated cold and 
wet, are distinguished for their affinity for water, their tenacity, 
their softness when wet, and their hardness when dry. They 
are comparatively difficult to cultivate, and require more skill and 
caution in their management than light soils ; but they are gen- 
erally fertile, and not easily exhausted. They not only hold 
securely the various solid manures applied to them, till they are 
required for the support of the growing crops, but greedily absorb 
the fertilizing gases brought within their reach by the air and 
the rains. They are admirably adapted to wheat, oats, Indian 
corn, and the various grasses ; hence they are sometimes styled 
grass lands. They of course exist in great diversity, and vary 
much in value, but are generally susceptible of being made 
highly productive. 

2. Light Soils. — Light soils are easily cultivated, friable, dry, 
and warm ; but their porousness facilitates the escape of both 
the water and the manure applied to them, and renders them 
liable to drouth and exhaustion. They are particularly adapted 
to rye, barley, buckwheat, and the tap-rooted plants. The 
English farmers sometimes distinguish them as turnip soils. 

Although soils contain small quantities of a large number of 
substances, they are chiefly made up of what are sometimes 
called the three primitive earths — silex (including sand and 
gravel), clay, and lime. As either of these predominates, it gives 
its peculiar character to the soil, whence we have the arrange- 
ment into three grand classes — silicious, argillaceous, and cal- 
careous, or, in other words, sandy, clayey, and limy soils. 

1. Sandy Soils. — A soil containing not less than seventy per 
cent, of sand may be considered sandy, in the sense in which 
the term is here used. 

2. Clayey Soils. — Clay with a mixture of not more than 
twenty per cent, of sand forms a clayey soil. 

3. Limy Soils. — Limy or calcareous soils are those in which 
lime, exceeding twenty per cent., becomes the distinguishing 



16 The Farm. 

characteristic. Oicareous soils may be either calcareous clays, 
calcareous sands, or calcareous loams, according to the propor- 
tions of clay or sand that may be present in them. 

4. Loamy Soils.-— Loamy soils are intermediate between those 
denominated sandy and those with predominant clayey charac- 
teristics. There are sandy loams, clayey loams, calcareous 
loams, and vegetable loams. 

5. Marly Soils. — Soils containing lime, but in which the pro- 
portion does not exceed 20 per cent., are sometimes called marly. 

6. A lluvial Soils. — Soils made up of the washings of streams 
are called alluvial. They contain portions of every kind of soil 
existing in the surrounding country, and are generally loamy 
and very fertile. 

7. Vegetable Melds. — When decayed vegetable and animal 
matter or humus exists in so great a proportion as to give the 
predominant character to a soil, it sometimes receives the name 
of vegetable mold. 

8. Subsoils. — The stratum or bed on which a soil immedi- 
ately rests is called the subsoil. Subsoils, like soils, may be 
either silicious, argillaceous, or calcareous. 

II.— ANALYSIS OF SOILS. 

Chemical analysis shows that the organic parts of a soil are 
composed of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen. The in- 
organic parts of a fertile soil, in addition to the silex, clay, and 
lime, of which we have already spoken, contain smaller quanti- 
ties of magnesia, potash, soda, sulphur, phosphorus, chlorine, 
oxyd of iron, and oxyd of manganese. All these are essential 
to independent fertility. 

It may be remaiked here, that while chemical science is a 
highly useful ally of agriculture, its decisions must, for the 
present, be held subject to reversal by practical experiments. 
This lack of perfect and universal reliability comes from the 
imperfection of the most careful analyses, and from the influ- 
ence of conditions of which chemistry can not take cognizance ; 
and not from the unsoundness of chemical theories. 



Soils 



17 



Professor J. F. W. Johnson has given the following tabular 
view of the composition of soils of different degrees of fertility : 



IN ONE HUNDRED POUNDS. 



Organic matter 

Silica 

Alumina (the base of clay) 

Lime 

Magnesia 

Oxyd of iron 

Oxyd of manganese 

Potash 

Boda 

Chlorine.. 

Sulphuric acid 

Phosphoric acid 

Curb*>nic acid. 

Loss during the analysis.. . 



64. S 

5.7 

5.9 

.9 

6.1 

.1 

.2 

A 

.2 

.2 

.4 

4.0 

1.4 

100.0 



Fertile 

with 
Manure. 



.1 

.2 
A 

H 0.0 



Very 
Barren. 



4.0 
7T.8 
9. 



100.0 



The soil of which the composition is given in the first column 
contained all the elements required for the growth of plants, 
and so long as these remain unexhausted will produce good crops 
without manure.* Some of the alluvial soils of the West are of 
this character. They will all be found to contain every one of 
these constituents. The proportions may vary in soils of equal 
fertility. This is immaterial, so long as there shall be a suf- 
ficient quantity of each to supply the wants of the crop. The 
soil the analysis of which is recorded in the second column lacked 
potash, soda, and chlorine. These are essential, and therefore 
the soil, in its natural condition, was barren ; but as these con- 
stituents are all supplied in considerable quantity by ordinary 
manuring, fertility was thus easily attained. In the third col- 
umn half the inorganic substances present in the first are en- 
tirely lacking, and two others — lime and magnesia — are greatly 
reduced in their proportion. No ordinary manuring would sup- 
ply all these deficiencies, and therefore the soil was, in a practi- 
cal point of view, hopelessly barren. 

Does not this illustration make the cause of fertility on the 



* See " The Garden," Chapter I. 



18 The Faem. 

one hand and of barrenness on the other perfectly obvious i 
Here it is in the compass of a nut-shell. A soil is fertile (as a 
general rule) when it contains in sufficient quantity all the sub- 
stances which plants require, and barren when some of these 
substances are either entirely wanting or deficient in quantity. 
The exceptions to the first part of this rule are an unfavorable 
physical condition and the presence of certain substances in 
hurtful excess. 

The time is coming when every farmer, thoroughly educated 
at an agricultural college, will possess both the knowledge and 
the apparatus necessary for making any required analysis of 
soils, but at present we must, in general, be content with the 
knowledge of their composition which we are able to obtain by 
a few simple processes. 

To ascertain the per-centage of sand which a soil may contain, 
dry a quantity thoroughly ; weigh it ; boil it in water ; stir it in 
a convenient vessel, and when the sand has settled pour off the 
liquid, which will hold the fine clay, etc., in suspension ; after 
doing this a few times nothing will remain in the bottom of the 
vessel but nearly pure sand, which may be dried and weighed, 
and the quantity will show whether the soil be sandy, loamy, or 
clayey. 

Any considerable quantity of lime in a soil is readily detected 
by pouring upon it a little muriatic acid, which may be obtained 
at any apothecary shop. So soon as this acid comes in contact 
with lime, if there be any, a brisk effervescence will take place, 
owing to the bubbling up and escape of carbonic acid gas. This 
simple test would save many a farmer from the expensive mis- 
take of applying lime to land which already contains a sufficient 
quantity of that important element of fertility. 

III. -PHYSICAL PEOPERTIES OF SOILS. 

In judging of the value of a soil, the nature and proportions 
of the elements of which it is composed are not the only circum- 
stances to be considered. Its physical properties must also be 
taken into account. 



Soils. 19 

1. Texture of Soils. — Considered in reference to texture, a 
soil may be described as essentially a mixture of an impalpable 
powder with a greater or smaller quantity of visible particles 
of all sizes and shapes. Now, although the visible particles are 
absolutely essential, their effects are, as it were, indirect; the 
impalpable powder alone exerting a direct influence upon 
vegetation, by entering into solution with the water and acids 
with which it comes in contact; for plants are incapable of 
talcing in solid matter however minutely divided ; and it is in & 
liquid or gaseous form only that their food can be received.* 
From this it will be readily understood how a soil may possess 
all the elements of fertility and yet be barren, as stated in a pre- 
vious section, on account of some of these elements oeing locked 
up in it, as it were, in an insoluble condition. The stones and 
smaller visible portions of the soil are gradually but constantly 
crumbling down under the action of air, moisture, and other 
chemical agents, thus adding, from year to year, new impalpable 
matter to the soil. The greater the proportion of this impal- 
pable matter, all other things being equal, the greater will be 
the fertility of the soil. This proportion may be ascertained 
with considerable accuracy by the following simple experiment : 

"Take a glass tube about two feet long, closed at one end; 
fill it about half full of water, and put into it a sufficient quantity 
of the soil to be examined to fill two or three inches of the tube 
at the bottom ; then put in a cork, and having shaken the tube 
well, to mix its contents thoroughly, set it in an upright position 
for the soil to settle. Now, as the largest particles are of course 
heaviest, they fall first, and form the undermost layer, and so on 
in regular gradation, the impalpable powder forming the upper 
stratum. By examining the various layers and noting their pro- 
portions you may make a very good mechanical analysis of soils." 

Soils must also be examined in reference to their consistency 
or tenacity, which is nothing more than the strength with which 
their molecules or particles are bound to each other by what ia 

* See " The Garden," Chapter I. 



20 The Faem. 

called, in the language of natural philosophy, the attraction of 
cohesion. Clayey soils have the greatest degree of consistency, 
and sandy soils the least. Both extremes are unfavorable, a 
medium in this respect agreeing best with vegetation. 

2. Depth of Soil. — Another very important point is depth of 
soil. A deep soil has not only the advantage of giving the roots 
of plants a wider range and a greater mass of food, but it retains 
moisture better in seasons of drouth, and is not so readily sat- 
urated in rainy weather. For the tap-rooted plants, such as 
beets, carrots, parsneps, etc., depth of soil is particularly im- 
portant. 

3. Colors of Soils. — Soils are of various colors — -black, white, 
gray, yellow, red, etc., and the effects and indications of these 
hues are not to be disregarded in estimating the value of land 
for agricultural purposes. The brown and red soils are gener- 
ally best. They are termed warm, and are mostly loamy and 
fertile. Yellow and gray indicate clayey soils, which are cold in 
their nature. Black generally indicates peat or deep vegetable 
mold. Dark-colored earths absorb heat more rapidly than 
others, but they also allow it to escape with equal readiness. 

4. Humidity of Soils. — Too great moisture is not less injurious 
to a soil than extreme dryness. The proper medium should 
be sought, and where land is too wet, thorough underdraw- 
ing should be practiced. But more on this point in another 
chapter. 

5. Influence of Subsoils. — A subsoil of clay beneath a clayey 
soil is unfavorable ; but beneath a sandy soil it is beneficial, 
especially if deep plowing and subsoiling be resorted to, for the 
purpose of improving the latter. On the same principle a sandy 
or gravelly subsoil is desirable under clayey soils, as it permits 
the infiltration of any superabundant moisture, and may ameli- 
orate the soil by mixing with it. A calcareous or limy sub- 
soil is beneficial to both clayey and sandy soils. 

6. Position and Form of Surface. — The position in which a 
piece of land lies and the form of its surface increases or detracts 
from its value according to its composition. Sandy soils are 



Soils. 21 

most fertile when flat and situated lower than the surrounding 
country. On the declivities of hills, such soil is of less value, 
as it is liable to become parched by drouths and washed away 
by rains. Clayey soils, on the contrary, especially where the 
subsoil is impermeable, are favorably situated when on a hill- 
side. Southern and eastern exposures are favorable to early 
vegetation, and in a cold climate or with a clayey soil are very 
desirable for many crops. 

IV.-IMPEOVEMENT OF SOILS 

Even the most valuable farms generally contain many acres 
which require considerable amelioration, aside from ordinary 
culture and manuring, to bring them into the highest state of 
fertility of which they are capable ; and the farmer should be 
well acquainted with the various means and methods to be 
made use of in improving each kind of soil. 

The means of ameliorating soils may be divided into two 
classes, mechanical and chemical. The former includes drain- 
ing, trenching, subsoil plowing, paring, the addition of various 
substances to improve texture, etc. ; the latter embraces the 
various kinds of manures. Practically, however, the two 
classes run into each other, the mechanical processes leading 
to chemical changes, and the addition of manures to mechanical 
improvement. ^ 

To draining and manures, separate chapters will be devoted. 
We will speak here briefly of a few other means of improve- 
ment which should not be neglected. 

1. Improving Clayey Soils. — One of the principal defects of 
clayey soils, especially where they rest upon a subsoil of the 
same nature, is the excess of water which is held in them. The 
only effectual way, in a majority of cases, to get rid of this is 
by thorough underdraining. This draws off by imperceptible 
degrees all the excess of water and opens the soil to the free 
admission of the air, which in its passage through it imparts 
warmth and such fertilizing gases as it may contain. Open 
drains or ditches, though less effectual, are useful. In soma 



22 The Farm. 

cases "water furrows," terminating in some ravine or ditch, 
serve a very good purpose. 

To break the too great tenacity of clayey soils, sand seems to 
be the ingredient indicated ; but so large a quantity is required 
to produce the desired effect, that its application on a large 
scale is generally consiaered impracticable. Lime is exceed- 
ingly useful as an ameliorator of clayey soils, inducing chemical 
combinations the mechanical eifect of which is to break up the 
too great tenacity of the clay, while it adds, at the same time, 
an element of fertility which may perhaps be wanting. Gyp- 
sum or plaster of Paris has the same effect in a still more power- 
ful degree. Ashes, coarse vegetable manures, straw, leaves, 
chips, etc., are also very useful, adding new materials to the soil 
and tending to separate its particles and destroy their strong co- 
hesion. In cold climates, plowing clayey lands in the fall, aad 
thus exposing them to the action of the frosts and snows, has a 
beneficial effect. At the South, where there is little frost, and 
frequent and heavy rains occur during the winter, the effect of 
fall plowing is very injurious. Clayey lands must never be 
plowed when wet. 

"Where a clayey soil rests upon a sandy subsoil its improve- 
ment is easier, as deep plowing, by which a portion of the sub- 
soil is turned up and mixed with the soil, soon modifies it very 
sensibly. 

In Europe, paring off the surface containing vegetable matter, 
drying, and burning it, and spreading the charred mass to which 
it is thus reduced upon the surface, to become again mixed 
with it, is frequently resorted to for the improvement of clayey 
soils ; but this process is too expensive to be generally applic- 
able in this country, where labor is so dear and land so cheap. 

2. Improving Sandy Soils. — Sandy soils require a treatment 
in most respects the reverse of that applied to clayey soils. Clay 
is the great ameliorator, and as the quantity required to produce 
a decided beneficial effect is not great, it may generally, when it 
can be obtained in the immediate neighborhood, be applied 
with profit. It should be thinly spread in the fall upon sward 



Soils. 23 

land previously plowed, so that the frosts of winter may act upon 
it and separate its particles. The land should he thoroughly 
harrowed in the spring and subsequently plowed, if necessary. 

Lime and gypsum, which render cl'ayey soils more friable, in- 
crease the adhesiveness of sandy soils, and when cheaply ob- 
tained furnish a profitable dressing. Ashes may also be ap 
plied with great benefit, as may vegetable manures and vege- 
table mold. Sandy soils are plowed to the greatest advantage 
when wet, and are improved by the frequent use of a heavy 
roller. Pasturing sheep upon them is very beneficial. 

Gravelly soils (except calcareous gravels) are more difficult 
of improvement than sandy soils, and are most profitably ap- 
propriated to pasturage. Sheep will keep them in the most 
useful condition of which they are capable. 

3. Improvement of Vegetable Soils. — Soils composed mainly 
of humus or vegetable mold, such as are found on low, swampy 
levels, and sometimes called peaty soils, are generally, in their 
natural state, totally unfit tor any profitable vegetation. When 
it is desirable to cultivate such a soil, the first process is to drain 
from it all the excess of water which it may contain. Then the 
hommocks, if any, must be cut off, dried, and burned, and the 
ashes spread over the surface ; after which sand, fine gravel, 
ashes, air-slacked lime, and barn-yard manure should be liber- 
ally added. These soils, thus ameliorated, make valuable grass 
lands, but require subsequent dressings of sand, lime, ashes, 
etc., as their fertility decreases. 

4. Management of Subsoils. — We have already spoken of the 
benefits resulting from mixing the soil and subsoil by deep plow- 
ing, in cases where they are of a different nature. To break up 
the subsoil and prepare it for mixing, and also to deepen soils 
and give the roots of plants a greater scope, a variety of sub- 
soil plows have been invented. In subsoil plowing a common 
plow goes first and is followed in the same furrow by the sub- 
soil plow, which thoroughly breaks up the subsoil to the depth 
of from twelve to sixteen inches, without displacing it. At 
subsequent plo wings portions of this subsoil are turned up by 



24 The Farm. 

allowing the common plow to run more deeply than before ; 
but care should be taken not to bring it up too rapidly or in toe 
large quantities. 

Besides allowing the roots of plants to penetrate more deep- 
ly in search of nutriment and moisture, subsoil plowing, by 
opening the stratum broken up to the action of the atmosphere, 
gradually prepares it to become an integral part of the soil, 
increases its warmth by making it a better conductor of heat, 
and renders it far less liable to suffer from drouth. This last 
point is particularly important, as subsoiled lands frequently 
produce excellent crops in seasons in which those subjected to 
common plowing alone fail to return even the seed deposited 
in them. Subsoil plowing should be repeated once in five or 
six years ; going each time a little deeper than before, till the 
greatest practical depth is attained. 

Subsoil plowing is not applicable, however, to all lands. 
"Where the subsoil is loose and leachy, consisting of an excess of 
sand or gravel, it is not only unnecessary but positively injurious. 

The gradual mixing of the subsoil with the soil which results 
from subsoil plowing is especially beneficial to lands which 
have been for a long time under cultivation, and have become 
partially exhausted. A fresh supply of the inorganic elements 
is thus furnished for the nourishment of vegetation, and new 
avenues opened to those powerful agents of fertilizing decom- 
position, the air and the rains. 

Where underdraining is required, it should precede the sub^ 
soiling, and the surface of the drains should be sufficiently 
below the surface not to be disturbed by the subsoil plow. 

With the exception we have noted, where the subsoil is loose 
and leachy, subsoil plowing, though expensive, will most cer- 
tainly "pay," as experience has amply proved. 

The subject of improving soils will be continued in the next 
two chapters, under the heads of Manures and Draining. 



Manures. 



25 



II. 



MANURES, 



Manures, iu soma form, must be considered absolutely essential to sustaining 
to tillage.— Alien. 

I.-NECESSITY OF MANUEES. 




jHILE soils remain covered by unbroken for- 
ests, they not only retain their fertility, but 
^p~ actually grow richer and richer from year to 
year, notwithstanding the vast amount of nutritive 
matter annually absorbed by the roots of the grow- 
v ^t^P m S trees. Everything thus taken from them is ulti- 
^ mately returned with interest. The leaves and 
broken twigs, and eventually the branches, trunk, and roots, in 
their decay, give back not only what they received from the 
soil, but much, in addition, that they have elaborated from the 
atmosphere. We receive from the hands of nature no worn- 
out lands ; but her system of •tillage is very different from 
ours. 

The productive power of soils subjected to cultivation is grad- 
ually exhausted by the process. Some of the alluvial lands of 
Virginia produced large annual crops of corn and tobacco for 
more than a century, without any return being made to them 
for the elements of fertility abstracted ; but these lands are now 
nearly valueless. The secondary " bottoms" of the Scioto and 



26 The Farm. 

Miami may retain an apparently undiminished fertility for a 
still longer period, but they must ultimately fail, and unless a 
system of cultivation radically different from that now pursued 
be adopted, become like the worn-out lands of some of the 
older portions of the country. Reliable statistical tables prove 
beyond a doubt that, notwithstanding our improved farm im- 
plements and superior methods of cultivation, the average 
yield, per acre, of the cultivated lands of the State of New York 
has decreased considerably since 1844, when the records on 
which these tables are founded were commenced. In corn the 
decrease is nearly four bushels per acre ; in wheat nearly two 
bushels ; and in potatoes, partly owing to the rot, no doubt, 
twenty-two and a half bushels. The falling off would have 
been still greater had not deeper tillage and better husbandry 
furnished a partial offset to the decreased fertility of the soil. 

These are instructive facts, and should cause the farmer to 
pause and reflect. 

The fruitfulness of a soil is decreased or increased according 
to inexorable laws. With each crop that is taken from a plot 
of ground a greater or less amount of each of the elements of 
fertility — silex, potash, lime, soda, magnesia, chlorine, etc. — is 
necessarily removed. Another portion is lost in the process of 
cultivation independently of what is taken up by the plants. 
Continue this process year after year, and what must be the 
result? Ultimate barrenness, of course. There is no remedy 
but to supply in the form of manures what is thus taken away. 
The farmer must feed the land which feeds him and so many 
others, or in the end all must starve together. In the older 
portions of our country at least, the time has come when the 
importance of manuring should be more fully appreciated. 

II.— THE FOOD OF PLANTS. 

In burning a dried plant of any kind, we find that the great- 
er portion of it is dissipated in the process. Generally only 
from three to ten per cent, is left. This is in the form of ash 
or ashes. The portion driven off has evidently disappeared in 



Manures. 27 

the air, in a gaseous form. It is found by a method of analysis 
which we can not here stop to describe, that it was composed 
of four elements — carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. 
These are called the organic parts of plants. 

An analysis of the incombustible portion remaining shows 
it to be composed, as a general rule, of these ten substances — 
potash, soda, magnesia, lime, oxyd of iron, oxyd of manganese, 
silica, chlorine, sulphuric acid, and phosphoric acid. All these 
substances are generally present in our cultivated crops, but 
not invariably ; one or two of them being sometimes absent. 
In some species of plants one of these is wanting and in other 
species another, and the proportions vary greatly in different 
species of plants. Of these differences we shall have occasion 
to speak further under the head of rotation of crops. 

Both the organic and inorganic parts of plants are made up 
from their food, which must of course consist of both organic 
and inorganic materials. The former are obtained partly from 
the soil and partly from the air ; the latter come exclusively 
from the soil. A fertile soil must therefore contain, in sufficient 
quantity and in an available form, all the constituents of plants ; 
and to maintain its fertility under cultivation, these constituents 
must be supplied in the form of manures so fast as they are 
taken up by the crops produced. 

The food of plants, so far as it is derived from the soil, is all 
received through the roots in a state of solution ; and the roots 
have, to a certain extent, the power of selecting their food and 
of rejecting whatever would prove hurtful to the plant. Dele- 
terious agents brought in contact with them may, however, 
under certain circumstances, be take a up by mere capillary at- 
traction, and the plant thereby poisoned. 

III.— WHAT THE DIFFEEENT CEOPS TAKE FEOM THE SOU* 

In examining the ash of the different cultivated plants, we 
observe, as we have already hinted, great differences in the 
proportions in which the various elements exist. The ash from 
the stem or the leaves of a plant and from the seeds of the same 



23 



The Farm, 



plant also varies considerably. The following table gives the 
composition of our most common cultivated crops: 





Indian 
Coin. 


Wheat. 


Wheat 
Stiaw. 


Rye. 


Oats. 


Po- 
tatoes. 


Tur- 
nips. 


Hay. 


Carbonic acid 

Sulphuric acid 

Phosphoric acid . . 


a trace 

.5 

49.2 

0.3 

0.1 

17.5 

23.2 

3.8 

0.9 

0.1 

4.5 


1.0 

47.0 

a trace 

2.9 
15.9 
29.5 


1.0 
3.1 
06 

8.5 
5.0 
7.2 
n.a 


1.5 
473 

2.9 
10.1 
82.8 
4.4 
0.2 
08 


10.5 

43.8 

0.3 

4.9 

9.9 

27.2 

27.2 

2.7 

0.4 

0.3 


10.4 

7.1 

11.3 

2.7 

1.8 

5.4 

51.5 

a trace 

8.6 

0.5 

0.7 


13.6 
7.6 
35 

13.6 
5.3 

42.0 
5.2 
7.9 
1.3 


2.7 
6.0 
2.6 

22.9 
5.7 

18.2 
2.3 

37.9 
1.7 




Magnesia 

Potash 


Soda 




1.8 1 67.6 
a trace 1.0 

2.4 j 5.7 








100.0 


100.0 j 100.0 


100.0 


100.0 


100.0 


100.0 


100.0 



With reference to the character of their ash, we may arrange 
these crops into three grand classes : 

1. The grains in which phosphoric acid predominates 

2. The roots in which potash and soda abound. 

3. The grasses in which lime is an important element. 

In straw and the stems of the grasses silica is abundant, con- 
stituting from one half to two thirds of the whole weight. The 
wood of trees gives an ash in which lime is a prominent ingre- 
dient. There are particularly large quantities in that of fruit- 
trees. 

The foregoing facts furnish hints toward a sound system of 
manuring, and show how important to the farmer is a knowledge 
of the composition and mode of action of the various manures. 

IV.— CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF MANURES. 

Manure, in the broadest sense of the word, is anything which 
added to the soil, either directly or indirectly, promotes the 
growth of plants. All manures might be considered under 
two heads- -organic and inorganic ; but it will better serve our 
present purpose to arrange them in three grand classes, veget- 
able, animal, and mineral. 

1. Vegetable Manures. 
Vegetable manures are not so energetic in their action as 



Manures. 29 

those of animal or mineral origin, but their effects are more 
durable ; and the wise agriculturist will avail himself largely of 
the cheap means of ameliorating his soil which they afford. 

1. Green Crops. — Plowing in green crops, such as clover, 
spurry, sainfoin, buckwheat, cow-peas, turnips (sown thickly), 
Indian corn, etc., is one of the best modes of renovating and 
sustaining a soil. Worn-out-lands, unsalable at ten dollars 
an acre, have by this means, while steadily remunerating their 
proprietors by their returning crops for all the outlay of labor 
and money, been brought up in value to fifty dollars an acre. 

For the Northern States red clover has been found best fitted 
for a green manure ; but in particular cases some other crop 
may be used with greater advantage. At the South, the cow- 
pea (which is no pea, but a bean) is considered the best fertilizer. 
E. L. Allen, in the " American Farm Book," says, "The advan- 
tages of green manures consist mainly in the addition of organic 
matter which they make to the soil. The presence of this aids 
in the liberation of those mineral ingredients which are there 
locked up, and which, on being set free, act with so much ad- 
vantage to the crop. The roots also exert a power in effecting 
this decomposition, beyond any other known agents, either of 
nature or art. Their minute fibers are brought into contact 
with the elements of the soil and they act upon them with a 
force peculiar to themselves alone. Their agency is far more 
efficacious for this purpose than the intensest heat or strongest 
acids, persuading the elements to give up for their own use 
what is essential to their maturity and perfection. By sub- 
stituting a crop for a naked fallow, we have all the fibers of the 
roots throughout the field, aiding the decomposition which is 
slowly going forward in every soil. 

" Clover and most broad-leaved plants draw largely for their 
sustenance from the air, especially when aided by the appli- 
cation of gypsum. By its long tap roots, clover also draws 
much from the subsoil ; as all plants appropriate such saline 
substances as are necessary to their maturity, and which are 
brought to their roots in a state of solution, by the up-welling 



30 The Faem. 

moisture from beneath. This last is frequently a great source 
of improvement to the soil. The amount of carbon drawn 
from the air in the state of carbonic acid, and of ammonia and 
nitric acid, under favorable circumstances of soil and crop, is 
very great; and when buried beneath the surface, all are saved 
and yield their fertility to the land ; while such vegetation as 
decays on the surface loses much of its value by evaporation 
and drainage. In the green state, fermentation is rapid, and 
by resolving the matter of plants into their elements, it fits the 
ground at once for a succeeding crop." 

The proper time to turn in most plants used as green manure 
is at the season of blossoming. 

The same effects follow the plowing of grass lands, and turn- 
ing under the turf; and the thicker and heavier the sward the 
better, since then a larger amount of organic matter in the form 
of roots is added to the soil. 

1. Straw, Leaves, etc. — Straw, leaves, hay are usually applied 
to the lands after they have either been worked over by ani- 
mals and mixed with their manures, or composted with other 
substances and decomposed ; but clayey soils are benefited by 
their application in an undecayed state. 

Potato tops or haulm ; bean haulm ; weeds, pulled before 
they have seeded, and all kinds of vegetable refuse, are readily 
decomposed by the addition of a small quantity of animal sub- 
stances or lime, and should be carefully composted. 

3. Sea-weed. — Sea-weed and pond-weed form valuable ma- 
nures. The former is particularly rich in the substances most 
needed by our crops, the ash containing, according to Professor 
Johnston, the following constituents and proportions : 

Potash and soda \ from 15 to 40 per cent. 

Lime " 3 " 21 

Magnesia " 7 " 15 

Common salt " 3 " 85 

Phosphate of lime " 8 " 10 

Sulphuric acid " 14 " 31 

Silica " 1 "U 

Farmers who live near the oast should embrace every op- 



Manures. 31 

portunity of getting it. It may be plowed in green or applied 
as a compost. In either case, it decomposes very rapidly, and 
its effects are immediately seen. 

4. Cotton Seed. — At the South, cotton seed is much used as a 
manure, and is very valuable for that purpose. It is applied at 
the rate of from eighty to a hundred bushels per acre. It may 
be sown broadcast and plowed in during the winter, when it 
will rot before spring, or it may be left in heaps to heat till its 
vitality is destroyed, when it may be thrown upon the corn 
hills and covered with the hoe or plow. 

5. Turf, Much, Mud, etc. — Rich turf, full of the roots of the 
grasses and decayed vegetable matter, is valuable as an absorb- 
ent of animal or other manures in compost heaps. Mixing it with 
lime, and leaving it several weeks to decompose, is a good pre- 
paratory process. 

Swamp muck, pond mud, and the scourings of old ditches, 
are exceedingly rich in vegetable matter, and may as well be 
mentioned here as anywhere else. These are all exceedingly 
useful as manures ; but differ in richness according to the cir- 
cumstances under which they have been formed. When there 
is no outlet for the water and sediments, and the mud, besides 
containing a large proportion of salts, the result of ages of evap- 
oration, is the receptacle of the remains of myriads of minute 
shell-fish, animalculse, infusorise, and the spawn and exuvia of 
frogs and other occupants, the mud is especially valuable. Such 
reservoirs of vegetable nutrition are mines of wealth to the 
farmer, if judiciously applied. 

Dana, in his valuable "Muck Manual," says: 

" The salts of geine* in a cord of peat are equal to the ma- 
nure of one cow for three months. It is certainly very curious 
that Nature herself should have prepared a substance whose 
agricultural value approaches so near to cow-dung, the type of 
manures. Departing from cow-dung, and wandering through 



* Geine, in its agricultural sense, includes all the decomposed organic mat- 
ters of the soil. In some form it is absolutely essential to agriculture. 



32 The Farm. 

all the varieties of animal and vegetable manures, we land in a 
peat-bog. The substance under our feet is analyzed, and found 
to be cow-dung, without its musky breath of cow odor, or the 
power of generating ammonia, except some varieties of peat. 
The power of producing alkaline action on the in- 
soluble geine is alone wanting to make it equal to cow-dung." 

According to this statement, we have but to add an alkali 
in the proper proportion, to produce a manure equally valu- 
able with cow-dung. From sixteen to twenty-four bushels, ac- 
cording to their strength, of wood ashes, or about sixty pounds 
of soda ash, will supply in full the lacking elements ; but as 
clear cow-dung may profitably be mixed with two parts of loam 
or muck, so two thirds of the alkali may be omitted from the 
muck mixture, to make it correspond with the cow-dung com- 
post. 

"The best plan," Dana says, "for preparing the artificial ma- 
nure, is to dig the peat in the fall, and mix it in the spring with 
eight bushels of common house ashes or twenty pounds of soda 
ash to every cord of muck, estimating the quantity when fresh 
dug, and making no allowance for shrinkage. If ashes be used, 
they may be mixed at once with the muck, but the soda ash 
should be dissolved in water and the heap evenly wet with it. 
In either case it must be well shoveled over. If leached or 
spent ashes be used, add one cord to three cords of the muck." 

The salt and lime mixture, described in another section, 
may be added to muck in the proportions of four bushels of the 
mixture to one cord of the muck, making a very effective ma- 
nure ; or the latter may be composted with stable manure or 
any animal matter found about the house or barn. 

2. Animal Manuees. 

These comprise the flesh, blood, hair, bones, horns, excre- 
ments, etc., of animals. They contain more nitrogen than veg- 
etable manures, and are far more powerful. 

1. Stable Manures. — The standard manure of this country 
is that from the stable and barn-yard. The principal varieties 



Manures. 33 

are those of the ox, the cow, the horse, and the sheep. Of 
these, that of the horse is the most valuable in its fresh state, 
but is very liable, as ordinarily treated, to lose much of its value 
by fermentation ; that of the sheep comes next ; while that of 
the cow is placed at the bottom of the list, because the enrich- 
ing substance of her food goes principally to the formation of 
milk. That of the ox is better. The value of each of these 
manures varies also with the food and condition of the animals 
from whom it is obtained. 

The manure of any animal is richer than the food given to it, 
because it contains, in addition to the residuum of the food, cer- 
tain particles belonging to the body of the animal. The extent 
to which it is animalized depends upon the thoroughness of the 
digestion, fatness of the animal, and the drain made upon the 
elements of nutrition by the system. The manure of well-kept 
cattle, it is readily seen, is far more valuable than that from 
those which are barely kept alive. 

All the urine, as well as the solid excrements of animals, 
should be carefully preserved. It is very rich in nitrogen and 
the phosphates, and some writers on agriculture contend that 
its value, if properly preserved and applied, is greater than that 
of the dung. From an experiment made in Scotland, it appears 
that in five months each cow discharges urine which when ab- 
sorbed by loam furnishes manure enough of the richest quality 
and most durable effects for half an acre of ground. Think of 
this, ye American farmers, who are accustomed to allow so 
much of this richness to run to waste ! The urine of three cows 
for one year is worth more than a ton of guano, which would 
cost from fifty to sixty dollars ! Will you continue to waste 
urine and buy guano? Various methods of preserving and 
applying it will suggest themselves to the intelligent farmer. 
Stables may be so constructed that the liqiuid discharges of the 
cattle, together with the wash of the barn-yard, may be con- 
ducted to a tank or cistern, to be pumped out and applied di- 
rectly to the land, or absorbed by saw-dust, charcoal dust, turf, 
etc., and used in that form. If allowed to stand long in the 



34: The Farm. 

tank, in a liquid form, fermentation is liable to take place, and 
the ammonia to pass off; but a few pounds of plaster of Paris 
occasionally" thrown in will cause the formation of the sulphate 
of ammonia, which will not evaporate. 

But the waste of manures is not confined to thos of the 
liquid form. The solid excrements of the animals are often 
left to drain, bleach, or ferment, till the greater portion of their 
most valuable elements have disappeared. Stable manures 
should be sheltered from the sun and rain, and fermenting heaps 
so covered with turf or loam as to prevent the escape of the fer- 
tilizing gases. Plaster, as in the case of urine, will aid in re- 
taining the ammonia. Boussingault, one of the most accurate 
of experimenters in agricultural chemistry, states that while 
the nitrogen in fresh horse-dung is two and seven tenths per 
cent., that in the fermented and dried dung is only one per cent. 
Horse-dung should be mixed at once with other manures, or 
with turf or loam, to retain its full value. The manure of sheep 
is strong and very active, and, next to that of the horse, is most 
liable to heat and decompose. 

2. Hog Manure. — The manure of swine is strong and valu- 
able. Swamp muck, weeds, straw, leaves, etc., should be thrown 
into the sty in liberal quantities, to be rooted over and mixed 
with the dung. In this way from five to ten loads of manure 
per annum may be obtained from a single hog. 

3. The Manure of Fowls, etc. — The excrements of birds con- 
tain both the feces and urine combined, and are exceedingly 
rich in nitrogen and the phosphates. The manure of hens, 
turkeys, geese, ducks, and pigeons should be carefully collected 
and preserved. Do not think that because the quantity is 
small, it is hardly worth the trouble of collection. Professor 
Norton says that three or four hundred pounds of such ma- 
nure, that has not been exposed to the rain or sun, is equal in 
value to from fourteen to eighteen loads of stable manure ! It 
may be kept dry, reduced to a powder, and applied as a top 
dressing, or formed into a compost with muck, turf, decayed 
leaves, charcoal dust, or other absorbents. If exposed to the 



Manures, 



35 



weather uncovered, much of its value is quickly destroyed. 
The custom adopted by some farmers of mixing the excrements 
of fowls with unleached ashes, quick-lime, etc., is not founded 
on correct principles, and inevitably deteriorates the manure. 

4. Guano. — Guano is formed from the excrements of sea- 
birds, mixed with the remains of the fish on which they prey, 
their own carcasses, and other animal matters. It is found in 
tropical latitudes, where it seldom rains, and where immense 
numbers of sea-birds have resorted for ages, to build their nests 
and rear their young. Here their excrements, etc., have accu- 
mulated till beds of from fifteen to thirty feet in thickness have 
in some instances been formed. Of its value as a manure there 
can be no doubt ; but circumstances must determine whether 
in any given case it can profitably be purchased and applied at 
the prices at which it is held. 

Professor Norton gives the composition of a few of the lead- 
ing varieties of guano as follows : 



VARIE VY. 


Water, per 

cent. 


Organic Mat- 
ter and Am- 
moniacal S;ilts. 


Phosphates. 




5-7 

7-10 

10-13 

18-26 


56-04 
56-66 
50-56 
36-44 


25-29 
16-23 

22-30 
21-29 




Chilian 







The guano of commerce is often adulterated, and great cau- 
tion should be exercised in buying it. That purchased directly 
from the agent in Peru, in New York, may, it is said, be relied 
vipon as absolutely pure. 

In applying guano, care should be taken that it do not come 
in contact with any seed, as it might destroy its vitality. 

5. Fish Manures. — These are available near the sea-coast 
only, where they furnish an important source of fertility, which 
should not be neglected. The flesh of fish acts with great 
energy in hastening the growth of plants. It decomposes 
rapidly, and should be at once plowed under, or made into a 
well-covered compost heat. 

6. Night Soil. — From the analysis of Berzelius, the excre- 



36 The Farm. 

merits of a healthy man yielded — Avater, 733 ; albumen, 9 ; bile, 
9; mucilage, fat, and the animal matters, 167; saline matters, 
12; and undecomposed food, 70, in 1,000 parts. When freed 
from water, 1,000 parts left, of ash, 132; and this yielded — car- 
bonate of soda, 8 ; sulphate of soda, with a little sulphate of 
potash and phosphate of soda, 8 ; phosphate of lime and mag- 
nesia, and a trace of gypsum, 100; silica, 16. 

Human urine, according to the same authority, gives in every 
1,000 parts — of water, 933 ; urea, 30.1 ; uric acid, 1 ; free acetic 
acid, lactate of ammonia, and inseparable animal matter, 17.1; 
mucus of the bladder, .3 ; sulphate of potash, 3.7 ; sulphate of 
soda, 3.2; phosphate of soda, 2.9; phosphate of ammonia, 1.6; 
common salt, 4.5; sal-ammoniac, 1.5; phosphates of lime and 
magnesia, with a trace of silica and of fluoride of calcium, 1.1. 

Urea is a solid product of urine, and, according to Prout, 
gives — of carbon, 19.99; oxygen, 26.63; hydrogen, 6.65 ; nitro- 
gen, 46.65, in 100 parts. The analyses of Woehler and Liebig 
differ immaterially from this. Such are the materials, abound- 
ing in every ingredient that can minister to the production of 
plants, which are suffered to waste in the air, and taint its 
purity and healthfulness. Boussingault considers the excre- 
ments of a single man during a year sufficient to produce four- 
teen and a half bushels of wheat. 

Doubtless much of the waste of night-soil, which has been 
permitted in this country, has resulted from the offensive odor 
it imparts and the supposed difficulty of managing it. These 
difficulties are easily obviated in various ways. Allen, in 
his "American Farm Book," recommends that tight wooden 
boxes, with hooks on the outer side, to which a team may be at- 
tached for drawing them out, be placed under the privy. These 
boxes should have a layer of charcoal dust, charred peat, or 
^plaster of Paris at the bottom, and others successively as they 
become filled. These materials are cheap, compact, and read- 
ily combine with the volatile gases. Sulphuric acid is more 
efficient than either, but more expensive. Quick-lime will neu- 
tralize the odor, but it expels, the enriching (uialities ; and if it he 



Manures. 37 

id tended to use the night-soil, lime should never be mixed with 
it. Both the charcoal and peat condense and retain the gases 
in their pores, and the sulphuric acid of the gypsum leaves the 
lime, and like the free acid, combines with the ammonia, form- 
ing sulphate of ammonia, an inodorous and powerful fertilizer. 
Eaw peat, turf, dry tan-bark, saw-dust, and leached ashes are 
all good ; but as more bulk is needed to effect the object, their 
use is attended with greater inconvenience. From its great 
tendency to decompose, night soil should be immediately cov- 
ered with earth when exposed to the air. 

7. Flesh, Blood, Hair, etc. — Dead animals, the blood and of- 
fal from slaughter-houses, are among the most powerful of fer- 
tilizers — equal to guano and the other costly manures ; and yet 
it is not uncommon to see horses or cattle that die from disease 
drawn out into the wood to decay on the surface of the ground. 
Every animal that dies should be made, into compost at once. 
Covered with a few inches of turf or loam, decomposition goes 
on without the loss of the fertilizing element, and a manure of 
the most valuable kind is produced. In large animals the flesh 
should be separated from the bones, and the latter be subjected 
to one of the processes described in the next section. 

Hair, woolen rags, leather shavings from the shoe-shops, and 
all other refuse animal matters, should be carefully preserved 
and composted, as they make very rich manure. 

8. Bones. — The value of bones as a manure is just beginning 
to be appreciated in this country. "They unite,'' Professor 
Norton says, " some of the most efficacious and desirable organic 
and inorganic manures." Boiled bones have lost most of their 
organic parts, but are still very valuable, being rich in phos- 
phate of lime. They are generally crushed to fine fragments 
in mills, and thus applied to the land. Another way of apply- 
ing them is in a state of solution, by sulphuric acid (oil of vit- 
riol). Professor Norton thus describes the process of dissolv- 
ing them : 

" To every hundred pounds of bones, from fifty to sixty pounds 
of the acid is taken ; or if bone-dust be used, from twenty -five to 



38 The Farm. 

forty-five pounds of the acid will be sufficient. The acid must 
be diluted with three times its bulk of water. The bones are 
placed in a tub and a portion of the acid, previously diluted, 
poured upon them. After standing a day, another portion ot 
the acid may be poured on ; and finally the last on the third 
day, if they be not already dissolved. The mass should be 
often stirred. It will dissolve into a kind of paste, which may 
be mixed with twenty or thirty times its bulk of water, and 
applied to the land by means of an ordinary water cart ; but a 
more convenient method, in most cases, is to thoroughly mix 
the pasty mass with a large quantity of coal ashes, earth, saw- 
dust, or charcoal dust. It can then be sown by hand or dropped 
from a drill machine. Two or three bushels of these dissolved 
bones, with half the usual quantity of yard manure, will be suf- 
ficient for an acre." 

Bones make a cheap as well as a rich manure, and no thought- 
ful farmer will suffer one to be wasted about his house. 

3. Mineral Manures. 

1. Lime. — Lime is applied to land in three different states — 
as quick-lime, slaked lime, and mild or air-slaked lime. To 
cold, stiff, newly drained land, especially if there exist in it 
much of acid organic compounds, it is best to apply quick-lime 
or caustic hydrate (slaked lime), as it will have a more energetic 
effect in ameliorating it. On light soils mild or air-slaked 
lime is considered most beneficial. It is best to apply lime 
frequently and in small quantities, so as to keep it near the sur- 
face and always active. 

Lime, as we have seen, is an essential ingredient in soil, being 
constantly needed by the plants in all their parts. It may always 
be added with profit wherever it does not already exist in suf- 
ficient quantity. 

2. Marls. — In true marl the principal element of fertility is 
the lime which it contains ; but its value is increased by the 
greater or less proportion of magnesia and phosphoric acid 
which are usually combined with it. 



Manures. 39 

A valuable mineral fertilizer generally called marl, but which 
contains comparatively little lime, abounds in parts of New 
Jersey and Delaware. Its predominant characteristic is a green 
granular mineral or sand. The carbonate of lime in shells, 
scattered through it, varies from ten to twenty per cent, in some 
specimens, while others are almost entirely destitute of it. The 
secret of its value lies chiefly in the from ten to twelve per cent. 
of potash which the best specimens contain. Magnesia is also 
often present. Its effects upon the light sandy soils of New 
Jersey are very striking indeed. 

3. Gypsum. — Gypsum, or plaster of Paris, is a sulphate of 
lime, and has been found one of the cheapest and most power- 
ful fertilizers derived from the mineral kingdom. In reference 
to the manner in which plaster acts there has been some con- 
troversy among agricultural chemists ; some contending that it 
serves as a direct food of certain plants, while others maintain 
that its utility is due to its power of absorbing gases and hold- 
ing them in contact with the roots of plants. Late experiments 
seem to prove that it acts in both these modes. When scat- 
tered over compost heaps, it is known to absorb ammonia and 
prevent its escape. On grass lands it is best to sow it in damp 
weather or while the dew is on. Sow broadcast at the rate of 
a bushel to the acre. Seed potatoes may be wet and rolled in 
plaster before planting with decided advantage ; and we know 
of no better way of applying it to corn than to give the seed a 
coat before putting it in the ground. Hon. A. B. Dickenson's 
mode of applying plaster, lime, etc., is an excellent one. We 
insert his directions as given in one of his inimitable agricultu- 
ral addresses: "I will tell you how you can put a coat of tar 
over all kinds of seed as evenly as a painter could put a coat of 
paint over a board with his brush. An iron kettle is the best 
to mix the tar and water. Have sufficient boiling water to cut 
the tar ; mix it with the hot water; then pour in sufficient cold 
to make it near blood heat. Have sufficient water to stir what- 
ever grain you put in, that the water and tar may come into 
contact with every part and particle ; it will then be coated 



40 The Farm. 

evenly and is ready to be taken out. Shovel it into a basket — 
for economy the basket may be placed over a tight barrel tc 
catch the water ; as soon as it is done draining, throw into a 
tight box, where you can mix and put on whatever your soil 
lacks. If wheat or barley, you need not fear to apply lime and 
salt. If oats, corn, or buckwheat, plaster and salt. And on 
the soils of Yates County it would be beneficial to all of the 
above-named grains, to steep in strong brine over night. Every 
species of grass seed I sow with a heavy coat, and fasten as 
much plaster as possible, which draws moisture in a dry season, 
and prevents rotting in an excessively wet one, and I never fail 
to have my grass seed take well." 

4. Common Salt, etc. — Common salt or chloride of sodium 
has been in use for ages as a fertilizer, and its great value can 
not be disputed. As an ingredient in compost, it is of great 
service, and operates with an influence upon the soil which can 
be produced by no other stimulant, either mineral or vegetable. 
As to top dressing for grass lands — especially those of a loamy 
texture — it is invaluable. Mixed with wood ashes and lime, in 
the proportion of one bushel of salt to three of ashes and five 
of lime, it constitutes a very energetic manure for Indian corn 
— producing an early and vigorous germination of the seed, and 
acting as an efficient protection against the ravages of the vari- 
ous insectivorous enemies by which the young plants are too 
frequently infested and destroyed. 

A very useful and energetic mixture is made by the following 
simple process : 

u Take three bushels of unslaked lime, dissolve a bushel of 
salt in as little water as will dissolve it, and slake the lime with 
it. If the lime will not take up all the brine at once — which it 
will if good and fresh burned — turn it over and let it lie a day 
and add a little move of the brine ; and so continue to do till it 
is all taken up." 

This mixture will supply plants with chlorine, lime, and soda, 
all of which are essential ; destroy the odor of putrefying animal 
matters, while it retains the ammonia, and promotes the de- 



Manures. 



41 



composition of vegetable and animal matters in the soil or 
compost heap to which it may be applied. The farmer should 
keep a quantity of this mixture constantly on hand. 

Brine which has been used for salting meat or fish is still 
more valuable than that newly made, as it contains a portion 
of blood and other animal matter. 

Whenever refuse nitrate of potash — that is, common salt- 
peter — or refuse liquid in which it has been dissolved for 
pickling meat, can be procured, it should be carefully preserved 
and mixed into a compost heap. 

There are various other salts which are valuable as manures, 
but the high price at which they are sold precludes their use 
in ordinary cases. 

5. Ashes. — Ashes, as we have seen, compose the entire inor- 
ganic parts of plants. Returned to the soil, they may again be 
taken up by the growing vegetation. Their great usefulness 
as a manure is evident and undisputed. The ashes from differ- 
ent trees differ materially in composition and value ; but all are 
highly useful applications to every kind of soil and crop. 
Johnston gives the composition of the ash from oak and beech 
as follows : 



PER-CKNTAGE OF 



Potash 

Soda 

Common salt 

Lime 

Sulphate of lime. 

Magnesia 

Oxyd of iron 

Phosphoric acid. 
Silica 



8.43 


15.83 


5.64 


2.79 


0.02 


0.23 


74.63 


62.37 


1.98 


2.31 


4.49 


11.29 


0.57 


0.79 


3.46 


3.07 


0.78 


1.32 



100.00 



100.00 



"Ashes," Allen observes, "are to the earthy part of vege- 
tables what milk is to the animal system, or barn-yard ma- 
nures to the entire crop ; they contain every element, and 
generally in the right proportions, to insure a full and rapid 
growth.*' 

Leached ashes have lost some of their value, being deprived 



4:2 The Farm. 

of the greater portion of their potash and soda, but are still 
very useful as manures. 

Coal ashes are less valuable than wood ashes, but are by no 
means to be neglected by the farmer. 

Soot is exceedingly valuable as a manure, and the small 
quantity produced should be carefully saved. 

IV.— MANAGEMENT OF MANUKES. 

Great skill and care are requisite in the management of 
manures, in order to preserve them from waste and secure their 
greatest efficiency. Some hints on this point have already been 
dropped in speaking of the different kinds of manure. We 
have room for only a few additional suggestions. 

1. Fermentation. — The comparative advantages of using fer- 
mented and unfermented manure is still under discussion among 
scientific agriculturists ; but that great loss takes place when 
manure ferments uncovered by some absorbent of the fertiliziDg 
gases is clear to every observer and thinker. See to it, then, 
that all fermenting manure is covered with turf, muck, charcoal 
dust, saw-dust, or plaster, to take up and retain the ammoniacal 
gases as they arise. 

2. Digging over Manures. — The frequent digging over of 
barn-yard manure, practiced by some farmers, while it promotes 
decomposition, also leads to great waste. 

3. Hauling Manure in Winter. — The opinion is now gaining 
ground that when it can be conveniently done, the best way to 
secure to the land the greatest possible benefit from stable and 
barn-yard manure is to draw them at once, so fast as they are 
produced, to the fields where they are to be used, and either 
spread them at once or deposit them in heaps so small that no 
putrefactive fermentation will take place. In many cases, ma- 
nures may be hauled in the winter with great economy, as the 
labor of the teams and hands is in less demand elsewhere. A 
correspondent of one of our agricultural journals, who hauled 
and spread a part of his manure in the winter and a part imme- 
diately before planting, in May, says : 



Manures. 43 

"Where the manure was applied in the winter, the corn 
started earlier and continued ahead through the season ; it also 
yielded the heaviest growth and the largest, soundest ears. I 
have followed this plan at different times, and have always been 
pleased with the result. In hot weather, I plow the manure 
under immediately after spreading." 

4. A Caution. — Never mix quick-lime with any animal 
manure, as it will cause the escape of ammonia and greatly 
deteriorate the manure. 

5. Burying Manure. — Here again doctors disagree. Some 
advocate burying manure very deeply, others slightly, and still 
others would leave it upon the surface. The best general rule, 
we believe, is to mix it so thoroughly as possible with every 
part of the soil. The roots will then be sure to find it. A few 
crops — onions and some of the grasses, for instance — must find 
their nutriment near the surface, as the roots do not extend 
deeply ; for these a top dressing may be best. 

6. Importance of Texture. — J. J. Thomas, in an excellent 
article on the "Effective Action of Manures," says: 

"Far more important than the mere presence of fertilizing 
ingredients, or even the chemical condition of those ingredients. 
in many cases, is their mechanical texture and degree of pulver- 
ization. We have elsewhere given an instance, furnished by 
one of the most eminent scientific and practical cultivators of 
our country, where the complete crushing of the clods of an 
adhesive soil, and the grinding together with them into powder 
the manure applied to the land, produced an effect upon the 
subsequent crop Jive times as great as the ordinary operation of 
manure. How absurd it must be to make strict calculations on 
the result of a given quantity of yard manure, without ever 
inquiring into the mode of application — whether, on the one 
hand, by spreading in large, unbroken lumps, carelessly and 
imperfectly plowed under, and in a condition wholly useless for 
plants, or even detrimental in case of drouth — or, on the other, 
by a thorough harrowing of the soil and manure together, 
before turning under and a repetition of the operation when 



44= The Farm. 

necessary afterward for complete intermixture. We have 
known the most admirable results by this practice, where 
nothing but fresh, coarse manure could be obtained for succulent 
garden crops, and nearly a total failure under like circumstances 
without its performance. Even the time of year that manure 
has been carted <jn the land, has sometimes had an injurious 
bearing on the success of its application, simply by the packing 
and hardening resuming from traveling over its surface when 
in a wet and adhesive condition. It is a perfectly self-evident 
truth, that a mixture of unburned bricks and clods of manure, 
would afford immeasurably less sustenance to the fine and 
delicate fibers of growing plants, than the same mixture ground 
down together ir.to a fine powder. Hence it may be reasonably 
believed that the general introduction and free use of pulver- 
izers, as the most effective harrows, clod-crushers, and subsoilers, 
assisted by tile-draining, may be of greater benefit to the whole 
country than the importation of a million tons of guano." 

V.— COMPOSTS. 

Composts of various kinds have already been recommended 
and described ; but a few words more : 

Let nothing that is capable, when decomposed, of furnishing 
nutriment to your growing crops be permitted to go to waste 
about your premises. A compost heap should be at hand to 
receive all decomposed refuse. The best basis for this heap 
is well-dried swair p muck ; but where this is not readily ob- 
tained, procure rich turf scraping from the roadside, leaves and 
surface soil from the wood lands and the sides of fences, straw, 
chips, corncobs, weeds, etc., aiding the decay of the coarser 
materials by the addition of urine or the lime and salt mixture 
mentioned in a previous section. Let this be composted with 
any animal matter found about the premises, or in the vicinity : 
the carcasses of all dead animals, large or small, offal of every 
kind, woolen rags, bones, old boots, shoes, and waste leather of 
every description, the droppings of the hen-roost, soap-suds, 
salt, brine, all drainings from the sink spout, slops from the 



Manures. 45 

chambers, and cleanings from the privy : let all go to the com- 
post heap. And whatever will not decay there, with sufficient 
rapidity, without assistance, aid its decay by the addition of 
such substances as will facilitate the object. Bones, leather, 
etc., may be softened so as to pulverize readi T y, by being packed 
in ashes and kept moist a few months ; and if the whole be 
sufficiently covered with muck during the process, there will be 
no loss of any element ; or they may be packed in an old cask 
in a strong solution of potash, or may be prepared with sulphur- 
ic acid in the most scientific manner, and when thus prepared 
in either of these ways, will add greatly to the value of the 
compost heap. And if it still is not strong enough, add wood 
ashes to any extent, from one to ten or twelve bushels per cord. 
"When thus prepared, our compost heap should be carefully 
worked over, thoroughly mixing all the different ingredients. 
It may then be applied to the soil in the <,ame manner with 
that from the barn-cellar, or in any other way desirable. 

In addition to the foregoing general compost and the various 
special compounded manures already referred to, every farmer 
who has swamp muck or peat on his farm should compost it 
extensively with his stable manure; for it is believed, on the 
evidence of careful experiment, that two cords of compost pre- 
pared by mixing daily one cord of dry muck with the same 
quantity of the solid excrements of animals is fully equal, for all 
practical purposes, to two cords of the latter preserved and 
applied without the muck ; and also that two cords of compost, 
prepared by using that quantity of dry muck, to absorb all the 
liquid voided by the same animals, during the time required to 
obtain one cord of solid excrement, to be equal in value to two 
cords of the former compost. Thus we have four cords of equal 
value by this process, to every one cord obtained where the 
manure is thrown out of doors and left exposed to sun, wind, 
and rain, and all the liquid allowed to run to waste.* 

These are a few of the ways in which your stock of manures 

* W. Q. "Wyman, in Country Gentleman. 



46 The Farm. 

may be greatly and cheaply increased. Your own experience, 
observation, and study will suggest others. 

VI.-IKKIGATION. 

Irrigation is manuring by means of water. "The manner of 
irrigating must depend on the situation of the surface and tha 
supply of water. Sometimes, reservoirs are made for its recep- 
tion from rains or inundations ; and at others, they are collected 
at vast expense, from springs found by deep excavations, and 
led out by extensive subterraneous ditching. The usual source 
of supply, however, is from streams or rivulets, or copious 
springs, which discharge their water on elevated ground. The 
former are dammed up, to turn the water into ditches or aque- 
ducts, through which it is conducted to the fields, where it is 
divided into smaller rills, till it finally disappears. When it is 
desirable to bring more water on to meadows than is required 
for saturating the ground, and its escape to fields below is to be 
avoided, other ditches should be made on the lower sides, to 
arrest and convey away the surplus water." 

Irrigation contributes to the growth of plants in several ways. 

1. It causes the deposit on the surface of the soil of more or 
less fertilizing matter brought from a distance by the stream ; 

2. It brings the gases — oxygen, nitrogen, and carbonic acid, to 
the roots of plants in different proportions from those in which 
they exist in the air (but if the water be permitted to remain 
stagnant on the surface this effect ceases) ; 3. It disposes the 
soil to those changes, both mechanical and chemical, which are 
essential to its greater fertility. 

" The advantages of irrigation are so manifest that they should 
never be neglected, when the means for securing them are 
within economical reach. To determine what economy in this 
case is, we have to estimate, from careful experiment, the equiv- 
alent needed in annual dressing with manures to produce the 
same amount of grass as would be gained by irrigation ; and to 
offset the cost of the manure, we must reckon the interest on 
the permanent fixtures of the dam and sluices, etc, 



Manures. 47 

" The increase from the application of water is sometimes 
fonrfold, when the soil, the season, and the water are all favor- 
able, and it is seldom less than doubled. Many fields which, 
in their natural condition, scarcely yield a bite of grass for 
cattle, when thoroughly irrigated will give a good growth for 
years, and without the aid of any manures. 

" Light, porous soils, and particularly gravels and sands, are 
the most benefited by irrigation. Tenacious and clay soils are 
bat slightly improved by it unless first made porous by under- 
draining. It is not only important that water be brought on 
to the ground, but it is almost equally important that it should 
pass off immediately after accomplishing the objects sought."* 

* R. L. Allen, in the "American Farm Book." 



48 



The Farm. 



III. 

ROTATION OP CROPS. 



If manuring Is tlie steam-engine which propels the vessel, rotation is the rudder whlca gni1«* 
9t In Its progress. — J. J. Thomas. 



I.— THEORY OF ROTATION. 




u 



HE following statements and illustrations of 
the principles on which rotation in cropping 
has its foundation, are condensed from Pro- 
fessor Norton's " Elements of Scientific 
Agriculture." 

" Suppose the farmer to have a soil which requires, 
as almost all soils do, the application of manure to 
render it fertile. He adds a good coating of manure, and then 
takes off a crop of corn or wheat. This crop will carry away 
the largest part of the phosphates that were added in the 
manure. In most cases, therefore, a second crop of the same 
kind would not be so good as the first; and the third would be 
still less. There yet remains, however, from the manure, 
considerable quantities of other substances, which the grain 
crops did not so particularly require, such as potash and soda. 
With this a good crop of potatoes, turnips, or beets may be 
obtained; and after this there is probably still enough lime, 
etc., left to produce an excellent crop of hay, if the ground be 
seeded down with another crop of grain of a lighter character 
than Indian corn or wheat. 



Rotation of Crops. 49 

We perceive, then, that any good rotation must be founded 
upon the principle that different classes of crops require differ- 
ent proportions of the various substances which are present in 
soils, and in the numerous fertilizers which are applied for the 
purpose of enriching them. Thus the crops may be made to 
succeed each other with the least possible injury to the soil, and 
with the greatest economy in the use of manures. 

It would be useless to recommend here any particular sys- 
tem of rotation as best; for that must be determined by experi- 
ence in each section of country, under the various circum- 
stances of climate, location, and value of crops. Attention 
may, however, be again called to the fact that there are several 
distinct classes of crops, considered with reference to the sub- 
stances which they take from the soil, and that these classes of 
crops should bear a part in every system of rotation. The 
principal of these are grain crops, root crops, and grass crops. 
See table and remarks in section 11 of the previous chapter. 

II.— BENEFITS OF EOTATION. 

J. J. Thomas, in speaking of rotation in cropping, says : 
" There are other very important requisites in good farming, 
but they are all accomplished with an increase of expenditure 
and labor. Manuring, for example, is a most powerful means 
for improvement ; but both manures and their application are 
expensive in proportion to the amount applied. Underdrain- 
ing has wrought wonderful results, but the cost is always a 
large item, and the same may be said in some degree of deep 
plowing and subsoiling. But in the arrangement of a rotation, 
no additional expenditure or labor is necessary ; it costs no more 
to cultivate crops which are made to succeed each other 
judiciously, than to cultivate those arranged in the worst man- 
ner possible. The former may bring triple the successful results 
of the latter — not by the expenditure of five hundred extra 
days in drawing manure, or five hundred dollars' worth of ditch- 
ing, but simply by making a proper use of one's brains. 

" It seems surprising, under the circumstances, that so small 



50 The Farm. 

a number seize the golden prize thus completely placed within 
their reach — that there are so few, even of those reckoned good 
formers, who pursue anything like a systematic succession, to 
say nothing of such a rotation that shall accomplish its pecu- 
liarly beneficial results, namely, preservation of the riches of 
the soil, destruction of weeds, destruction of insects, and the 
most advantageous consumption by each successive crop of all 
the means for its growth within reach. As a consequence of 
this neglect, we see land overcropped with wheat, the soil 
worn out for this particular grain, and those troublesome weeds, 
chess and red-root, taking its place. We see pastures, left un- 
plowed for a long series of years, become filled with " butter- 
cups" and ox-eye daisy. A disproportion of spring crops facili- 
tates the spread of wild mustard, and among insects, grubs and 
wire worms increase according to the cultivation that favors 
their labors. It appears to be but little understood how great 
is the assistance to clean cultivation afforded by a good rotation. 
The best example of this sort we ever witnessed, where every 
field of the symmetrically laid-out farm, except a wet meadow, 
was brought under a regular, unvarying system, scarcely a 
weed was ever to be seen; and we ascertained that not one 
third of the labor usually expended was required for the hand 
dressing of hoed crops." 

For something more on this topic, see chapter on "Farm 
Management." 



DRAINING. 



IV. 

DRAINING. 



If one of out railroads should be known to pay thirty per cent, dividend annually, from its reg 
tlar earnings, and the stock could be bought at par, what a furious rush would be made for it 
Yet there is a way that fanners may invest in stocks at home, on their own lands, that will paj 
thirty to fifty per cent, yearly. This is in systematic tUe-drabiing. We have known many whc 
have tried it, and they generally say that it is paid for by the increased crops in two years. 
They are good farmers, however.— Annual Register of Rural Affairs. 

There is not one farm out of every seventy-five in this Stale but needs draining — jes, much 
dralning--to bring it into high cultivation.— Com. Report to N. Y. Rtate Ag. Soe. 

I.— EFFECTS OF DRAINING. 




OME of the unfavorable effects of an excess 
of moisture in a soil have already been ad- 
verted to, and the proper remedy — thorough 
drainage — pointed out. Thorough drainage implies 
covered drains, and it is to the advantages of these 
mainly that we now desire to call the reader's atten- 
tion; although, as we have said in a previous chapter, open 
ditches and water-furrows are very useful in certain situations. 
The rain which falls upon a piece of land prepared with prop- 
erly constructed covered drains never remains to stagnate or to 
run over the surface, washing off the best of the soil, but sinks 
gradually down, yielding to the roots of plants any fertilizing 
matter which it may contain, and often washing out some 
hurtful substances. As it descends, air and consequently warmth 



52 The Farm. 

follow it. Under these new influences the proper decompo 
sitions and preparations of compounds fit for the sustenance of 
plants go on, the soil is warm and sufficiently dry, and plants 
flourish which formerly would never grow on it in perfection, 
if at all. It is a curious fact, too, that such soils resist drouth 
better than ever before. The reason is, that the plants are able 
to send their roots much farther down in search of food with- 
out finding anything hurtful. Every part being penetrated by 
the air, and consequently dryer and lighter, these soils do not 
bake in summer, but remain mellow and porous. Such effects 
can not, in their full extent, be looked for in a stiff clay 
in a single season; the change must be gradual, but it is 



sure 



The principal benefits of a system of covered drains are sue 
cinctly and clearly stated in the following — 

"ten keasons foe tjnderdrainixg. 

"1. It prevents water which falls from resting on or near 
the surface, and renders the soil dry enough to be worked or 
plowed at all times. 

" 2. By rendering the soil porous or spongy, it takes in water 
without flooding in time of rain, and gives it off again gradually 
in time of drouth. 

" 3. By preventing adhesion and assisting pulverization, it 
allows the roots to pass freely through all parts of the soil. 

"4. By facilitating the mixture of manure through the pub 
verized portions, it greatly increases its value and effect. 

"5. It allows water falling on the surface to pass downward, 
carrying with it any fertilizing substances (as carbonic acid and 
ammonia), until they are arrested by the absorption of the soil, 

"6. It abstracts in a similar manner the heat contained in 
falling rains, thus warming the soil, the water discharged by 
drain-mouths being many degrees colder than ordinary rains. 

" 7. The increased porosity of the soil renders it a more per 

* Norton's "Elements of Agriculture." 



Draining. 53 

feet non-conductor of heat, and the roots of plants are less 
injured by freezing in winter. 

"8. The same cause admits the entrance of air, facilitating 
the decomposition of enriching portions of the soil. 

" 9. By admitting early plowing, crops may be sown early, 
and an increased amount reaped in consequence. 

" 10. It economizes labor, by allowing the work to go on at 
all times without interruption from surplus water in spring, 
or from a hard-baked soil in summer."* 

II.-CONDITIONS EEQUIKING DEAINAGE. 

The conditions from which arise the principal causes of mis- 
chief to undrained land are thus stated by Munn in "The 
Practical Land-Drainer :" 

" 1. Where water has accumulated beneath the surface and 
originated springs. 

" 2. Where, from the close nature of the substrata, it can 
not pass freely downward, but accumulates and forms its level, 
or water-line, at a short distance below the surface ; and 

" 3. Where, from the clayey or close texture of the soil, it 
lies on the surface and becomes stagnant." 

Farmers are apt to consider land in which the second condi- 
tion mentioned exists, to be too dry to need draining, yet it is 
cold and sour, late in spring, apt to bake hard in summer, and 
very liable to suffer from early frosts in autumn. There is no 
remedy but underdraining. The necessity of this operation in 
the other two cases named is obvious. 

III.— PEACTICAL DIEECTIONS. 

1. Preliminary. — The first thing to be done is to examine 
the field to be drained and determine the plan of drainage best 
adapted to effect the object in view, and the materials which 
may most economically be used in constructing the drains. 

2. Draining Springy Soils. — Where the wetness to be rem- 
edied results from springs having their source in higher grounds 



* "Annual Eegi?*er of Eural Affairs. " 



54: The Faem. 

above the field to be drained, the desired result is generally 
attained by making one or more drains across the declivity 
about where the low grounds of the valley begin to form, thug 
intercepting or cutting off the springs. These transverse 
drains must be connected with others, made for the purpose 
of conveying the water collected in them into some brook, 
ravine, or other outlet which may be near. 

3. Direction of Drains. — In cases characterized by either of 
the other conditions specified in the previous section, parallel 
drains should be cut directly up and down the inclination of 
the field, and emptying into a main cross drain at the lower 
side. 

4. Depth and Distance Apart. — In reference to depth and 
distance apart, differences of opinion and of practice prevail. 
Some cut their drains only about two and a half feet deep and 
from twelve to twenty feet apart, while others make them from 
three and a half to five feet deep and from thirty to fifty feet 
apart. The experience of seme of the most extensive drainers 
both in this country and in Europe seems to indicate, however, 
that for very heavy, clayey soils, from two and a half to three 
feet in depth and from twelve to thirty feet apart, generally 
produce the most satisfactory results. More porous and friable 
soils may be successfully drained at greater depth and distance. 

5. Digging. — Having marked out your drains at the distance 
apart decided upon, and got your tiles or other materials ready 
for laying down the ducts, you may begin to dig, commencing 
at the lower end, cutting the main drain into which the others 
are to empty, and then working upward on the parallel drains. 
Their dimensions must depend mainly upon the material to be 
used for the ducts. Where they are to be filled with broken 
stone or brush, they are made wider than where the small, oval 
tile, tube, or pipe is to be laid. Where tiles of any kind are 
to be used, their size must determine the width of the bottom 
of the drain. The top must be wider for convenience of dig- 
ging. A narrow spade and a peculiar hoe are necessary for 
digging and smoothing the bottom of the drain. There musi 



Draining. 



55 




be a gradual fall, of course, from end to end, of which the 
regular flow of water will be a test. For the purpose of keep- 
ing a uniform grade of descent in cutting drains, a common 
mason's level will answer ; but the A or span level, represented 
by the accompanying cut, is 
better. Such a level may 
easily be constructed of 
wood. The span should be 
either sixteen feet six inches, 
or half that length. The 
two feet being placed on a 
perfectly level floor, the 
plumb-line will hang in the center, where a notch should be 
cut in the cross-bar. Then place a block of wood, exactly an 
inch thick, under one leg, and mark the place on the cross-bar 
that the plumb-line touches. Put a second block of one inch 
under the same leg, and mark the place of contact of the line 
with the bar as before, and so on so far as is necessary. Then" 
mark the other side in the same way. When thus prepared, 
if the span of the level be sixteen feet and six inches, the 
plumb-line will indicate upon the bar, by the number of spaces 
at which it hangs from the center, the number of inches per 
rod of the descent. If its span be eight feet and three inches. 
it will, in the same way, indicate the number of inches of 
descent in half a rod.* 

6. Materials and Construction.— -The ditch thus excavated 
must now be furnished with a permanent duct through which 
water may at all times freely pass off. This may be constructed 
of various substances — brushwood, straw, turf, clinkers from 
furnaces, wood, brick, stone, and tiles of burned clay. Of 
these, stone and tiles in their various forms, when they can be 
procured, are the only materials which we can unconditionally 
recommend. 

Brushwood Drains. — Where no better materials are avail- 



Munn. 



56 



The Farm, 



able these will be found, while they last, quite effective ; and 
they are far more permanent than might be supposed. An 
instance is recorded where they have been found after twenty 
years in as good condition apparently as when constructed. 
They are formed by laying down branches or brushwood in 
the bottom of the drain to form the duct for the passage of the 
water. The brush are put into the cutting in a slanting direc- 
tion with the descent of the ground, their root or large ends 
being toward the bottom. They should be trodden down and 
covered with inverted turf before filling in. 

Stone Drains. — In reference to their mode of construction, 
stone drains are of various kinds. The simplest form is that 
in which the ditch or cutting is filled, to the depth of nine or 
ten inches, with small stones, covered with inverted turf, shav- 
ings, or something 
of the kind. The 
stones should be 
about the size of a 
hen's egg. Where 
larger ones are 
used, the earth is 
apt to fall into the 
cavities, or mice or 
rats make their 
burrows there, and 
^r-- the drain becomes 
choked. Some, 
SlP'WL. however, make use 

THE STONE SCREEN. f l ar g 6r stonCS, 

merely covering them with a layer of small stones or gravel, 
before putting on the sod. When the stones are procured, 
whether in a natural state or broken, it is desirable to screen 
them in order to get them assorted as to size. The accompany- 
ing cut represents an excellent portable harp or screen for that 
purpose. Having filled the ditch to the required depth, and 
covered the surface carefully with inverted sods, the earth 




Draining. 



57 





Fig. 1. 



Fi^ 2. 



should be thrown in and trampled hard upon them. The water 
^ should find its way into 
the drain from the sides, 
and not from the top. 

The accompanying cuts 
represent other forms of 
stone drains, in which 
flat stones are used to 
form a regular and con- 
tinuous duct. A drain 
well constructed in either of these forms may be considered 
permanent. Where t h e 
earth is hard and the quan- 
tity of water is not large, the 
form represented by Fig, 4 is 
the best and cheapest in 
which a stone drain can be 
constructed. In making 
Fig. 3. stone drains in swampy or Fig- 4 - 

very soft ground it is sometimes necessary to lay a plank oi 
slab on the bottom, before putting in the stones, to prevent 
them from sinking before the soil shall become dry enough to 
be firm. 

But in large portions of the country stones can not be pro- 
cured, and where they can be had, and require to be broken and 
screened, the expense is considerable ; and it is now found that, 
in many cases, tiles made of clay and burned are much cheaper. 
Tile Brains.— The first form of tile drain used was arched 
and made to rest on a sole or flat tile laid 
under it ; but the more modern tile pipes 
Fig. 5. are to be preferred, as they are smaller, 

cheaper, and more easily laid. Those with an oval bore (fig. 





Fig. 6. ^g- 7 - 

T) are considered better than those with a round one. Tha 

3* 



58 



The Faem. 




tiles are, of course, placed in the bottom of the ditch, which 
must be smooth and straight. They are simply placed end to 
end and wedged a little with small stones, if necessary, and 
the earth packed hard over them. The water 'very readily 
finds its way in through the pores of the material and at the 
i joints. Collars or short outer tiles are 
sometimes used to go over the joints, to 
secure them against getting displaced. 
An inch pipe is sufficient for most situa- 
tions. It may seem impossible for the 
water freely to reach a tile pipe with the 
earth packed close about it, especially 
Fig. 8. where the soil is clayey ; but practically 

no difficulty occurs. The portion of earth next the drain first 
dries ; and as it shrinks on drying, little cracks begin to radiate 
in every direction, and to spread until they penetrate the whole 
mass of the soil within their influence, allowing the superfluous 
moisture to pass off, and rendering the ground, in the course 
of a season or two, light, mellow, and wholesome for plants.* 
For main drains (where the parallel drains do not discharge 
directly into some open ditch, ravine, or brook, and the former 
are not constructed of stone or brick), two horse-shoe or arched 
tiles may be used, one inverted against the other. 

The drains should be connected at the upper end of the field 
by a small drain running at right angles with them. It should 
be of the same depth as the other drains. 

Where the ground is firm and the drain is made in the sum- 
mer, and when the length is not great, begin at the upper end 
to lay the tiles or put in the stones ; but where the ground is 
liable to fall down at the sides, the safest way is to build the 
conduit or duct immediately after the earth is taken out of the 
bottom.! 

IV.— WILL UNDEEDRAINING PAY? 

The Genesee Farmer thus answers this question: This de- 



Norton. 



t Munn. 



Draining. 59 

pends on circumstances. If good naturally underdrained land 
can be obtained in your neighborhood for from $15 to $20 per 
acre, it w#uld not pay in all probability to expend $30 per acre 
in underdraining low, wet, or springy land ; but in all districts 
where land is worth $50 per acre, nothing can pay better than 
to expend from $20 to $30 per acre injudicious underdraining. 
The labor of cultivation is much reduced, while the produce is 
generally increased one half, and is not unfrequently doubled ; 
and it must he remembered that the increase is net profit. If 
we get $15 worth of wheat from one acre and $20 worth from 
the other, and the expense of cultivation is $10 in both cases, 
the profit from the one is twice as much as from the other. 
That judicious underdraining will increase the crops one third, 
can not be doubted by any one who has witnessed its effects. 
If it should double the crops, as it often does, the profit would 
be four-fold." 

It has been remarked, that "to apply manure to undrained 
land, is to throw money away," an illustration of which is fur- 
nished by a statement in the Transactions of the New York 
State Agricultural Society, where seven acres of low, wet land, 
manured annually at the rate of 25 loads to the acre, produced 
31 bushels of oats per acre ; but after being thoroughly under- 
drained at a cost of about $60 for the whole, the first crop of 
oats without manure was 89J bushels per acre. 

Gov. Wright, in his address before the Wayne County Agri- 
cultural Society, estimates the amount of marshy lands in Indi- 
ana at three million acres. These were generally avoided by 
early settlers as being comparatively worthless, but when 
drained they become eminently fertile. He says : "I know a 
farm of 160 acres that was sold five years ago for $500, that 
by the expenditure of less than $200, in draining and ditching, 
the present owner refuses now $3,000." 

No estimates of the cost of draining that we could give 
would be of much practical value. The character of the soil, 
the cost of the materials, the price of labor, and other circum- 
stances, must be taken into the account, and these vary so much 



60 



The Farm. 



in different localities that they can not be made the basis of 
any useful general estimates. The following table, showing 
the number of tiles, of the different lengths made, which are 
required for an acre, will be useful to those who may desire to 
purchase just enough for a particular piece of ground. We 
extract it from Munn's "Practical Land-Drainer:" 



DISTANCE APART. 



Drains 12 feet apart require. 

" 15 

" 18 

" 21 

" 24 

« 27 

1 30 



12-Inch 


13-Inch 


14-Inch 


15-Inch 


Tiles. 


Tiles. 


Tiles. 


Tiles. 


3,630 


3,351 


3,111 


2,9 4 


2,904 


2,681 


2,4S9 


2,323 


2,420 


2,234 


2,tiT4 


1,936 


2,074 


1,914 


1,777 


1.659 


1,815 


1,675 


1,556 


1,452 


1,613 


1,480 


1,383 


1,291 


1,452 


1,340 


1,245 


1,162 


1,320 


1,218 


1,131 


1,056 


1,210 


1,117 


1,087 


968 



In reference to tile-pipe drains, it must be remembered that 
the ditch may be much narrower than when stones are used, 
thus making a considerable saving in the expense of digging. 
The upper part of the earth is taken out with a common spade, 
and the lower part with one made quite narrow for the pur- 
pose, being only about four inches wide at the point. 



Fences, 



61 



FENCES. 

Have an eye upon your fences ! — Farmer , » 

I.- REQUISITES OF A GOOD FENCE. 




U 



HE first essential in a farm fence is perfect 
efficiency as a barrier against such animals as 
it is desired to shut in or exclude. "Without 
this quality it is worse than useless. In the 
second place, it must be so cheap that its cost will not 
exceed, to say the least, the profit to be derived from 
its existence. Thirdly, it must not require too frequent 
renewal. It is desirable, also, that it occupy little space, and 
that it do not present an unsightly appearance. The best fence, 
therefore, for any given place and time, is the one which com- 
bines most perfectly all these qualities. In one place this may 
be stone fence, in another one of posts and rails, in a third a 
live hedge, etc. In one period of a country's history it may be 
made of logs, in another cf rails, m a third of growing Osage 
orange or holly, and in a fourth of wire. 

IL-VAKIOUS KINDS OF FENCE. 

1. Stone Fence. — "Wherever there is plenty of stone, and 
especially where loose stones abound, and must be removed 
before the land can be properly cultivated, stone fences are the 



62 The Farm. 

best and most economical that can be constructed. When well 
built, broad, and high, they are perfectly efficient and very 
permanent. In an esthetic point of view they are far less 
offensive to the eye of taste than our wooden fences, even of 
the least objectionable form. After a few years, as we judge 
from the sober livery of moss with which she decks them, 
Nature adopts these structures as her own, and they become a 
legitimate portion of the landscape. 

Where stone is not very abundant, a combination of stone 
and rail fence is often economically constructed. A substantial 
foundation of stones is laid, reaching two or two and a half feet 
above ground, in which posts are placed at proper distances, 
with two or three bar holes above the wall, for the insertion 
of an equal number of rails, which for convenience should be 
put in when the posts are set. 

2. The Zig-zag or Worm Fence. — In large portions of our 
country, where there is a superabundance of timber, and econ- 
omy of space is of little importance, the common zig-zag or 
worm fence of the West and South is probably the most eco- 
nomical that can be erected. When well built, it is firm and 
durable, but unsightly and inconvenient, occupying a great deal 
of space, harboring vermin, and encouraging the growth of 
weeds and bushes. 

3. Post-and-Rail Fences. — As timber becomes somewhat 
more valuable, it ceases to be economical to use it so lavishly 
as the worm fence requires, and the post-and-rail fence takes 
its place. This is, in many respects, the best of all the wooden 
farm fences. 

" The posts," Allen says, " should be placed from two and a 
half to three feet below the surface, in the center of a large 
nole and surrounded by fine stone, which must be well pour ded 
down by a heavy, iron-shod rammer, as they are filled in. 1 l.e 
post will not stand so firmly at first as if surrounded by uirt, 
out it will last much longer. The lower end should be penned, 
which prevents its heaving with the frost. If the position of 
fche post while in the tree be reversed, or the upper end of the 



Fences. 63 

split section of the trunk which is used for a post, be placed in 
the earth, it will be more durable. Charring or partially burn 
ing the part of the post which is buried, will add to its dura- 
tion. So also will imbedding it in ashes, lime, charcoal, or 
clay ; or it may be bored at the surface with a large auger, 
diagonally downward and nearly through, then filled with salt, 
and closely plugged. 

" The best timber for posts, in the order of its durability, is 
red cedar, yellow locust, white oak and chestnut, for the 
Northern and Middle States. I recently saw red cedar posts 
in use for a porch which, I was assured, had been standing 
exposed to the weather previous to the Revolution, a period of 
over 70 years, and they were still perfectly sound. The avidity 
with which silicious sands and gravel act upon wood, renders 
a post fence expensive for such soils."* 

In some cases, boards may be economically substituted for 
rails, and firmly nailed to suitably prepared posts. 

4. The Sunken Fence. — The sunken fence or wall consists of 
" a vertical excavation on one side, about five feet in depth, 
against which a wall is built to the surface of the ground. The 
opposite side is inclined at such an angle as will preserve the 
sod against sliding, from the effects of frost or rain, and is then 
turfed over. A farm thus divided presents no obstruction to 
the view, where it is everywhere properly walled in, besides 
affording good ditches for the drainage of water." Such a 
fence, properly constructed, might be considered absolutely 
permanent ; and it would scarcely need repairing at all. 

5. Iron Fences. — Wire and other forms of iron fence are 
coming into extensive use in some portions of the country. 
"Where there is a deficiency of both timber and stone, the wire 
fence is probably the best and most economical that can be 
made. With the improvements lately introduced, especially 
those made by the New York Wire Railing Company, these 
fences are entirely efficient, and in every way satisfactory. 

* The " American Farm Book." 



64 



The Faem, 



The fences are made with horizontal wires, tightened by 
means of an effective arrangement, so that the whole tension 
of the rod is obtained. The posts are furnished with contriv- 
ances of different patterns for security in the ground. The size 
of the rods varies in accordance with the uses for which the 
fence is designed. No ordinary domestic animal will break 
through fences of considerably less than 3-inch wrought wire, 
while still larger sizes may be used with the same facility if 
required. The bright or hard wire is now generally used.* 




WIRE FENCE, WITH WOODEN POSTS. 

* We are indebted for the accompanying illustrations of wire fences to the 
Descriptive Catalogue of the New York Wire Eailing Company. John B. 
"Wickersham, Superintendent, 312 Broadway. 

t As it may be useful to some of our readers, we give the prices per rod at 
wliich this fence may be procured (packed and shipped) at the warehouse of 
the New York Iron Eailing Company, in New York. 

For cattle and horses, 8 wires, with iron posts and screws $1 66 

" " " 4 " '• " " 1 84 

" " « 5 " " " * 2 00 

« Hoes, sheep, ete. 7 " " « » 2 40 

" Turkeys, geese, etc. 10 " " " " 8 00 

Each additional wire, 20 cents per rod. 



Fences. 



65 



The accompanying cut exhibits the natural size of the wires 
most commonly used for farm fences, and shows the manner in 




which they pass through and support the post and are supported 
by it. The following are the manufacturer's directions for 
putting up the fence : 

"It is absolutely necessary that the straining pillar, or start- 
ing post, of wood or iron, at the extreme ends of the fence, 
should be perfectly firm, as the wires can not otherwise be 
made tight. Commencing from a tree is recommended, if pos- 
sible. Plant the posts 12 feet apart, hook in the rails, and at 
the distance of 150 feet place a screw on each wire. Place the 
next set of screws at the distance of 300 feet, and so continue.' 




"WIRE NETTING FENCE. 



The wire netting fence furnishes an admirable barrier against- 
small animals, poultry, etc. It costs from $1 50 to $2 75 per 



66 



The Faem, 



rod, according to the height and the size of the wire and 
meshes. 

Another style of iron farm fence is called the " Corrugated 
Flat Eail Fence." It is in some respects preferable to the 
round rail or wire, being visible at a greater distance and less 
liable to sagging. 

6. Hurdle Fence. — The hurdle, or light, movable fence is 
formed in short panels, and firmly set in the ground by sharp- 
ened stakes at the end of each panel, and these are fastened 
together. This is a convenient addition to farms where heavy 
green crops of clover, lucern, peas, or turnips are required to 
be fed off in successive lots, by sheep, swine, or cattle. It is 
variously constructed of wood or iron, and is much less expen- 
sive than might be supposed, " Wickersham's Corrugated Hur- 
dle Fence" being furnished by the Wire Railing Company at 
from $2 50 to $5 per rod, according to weight and quality. 




WICKERSHAM'S CORRUGATED HURDLE FENCE. 



7. Hedges. — The live fence, almost universal in England, is 
still an experiment here. There have been a few successes and 
•many failures in the cultivation of hedges. The causes of fail- 
ure have been various — a wrong choice of trees, the dryness 



Fences. 07 

of our climate, lack of experience in planting, neglect of proper 
after cultivation and pruning, etc. But the few examples of 
complete success which may be pointed out prove conclusively 
that, under proper and easily attainable conditions, live fences 
are perfectly practicable in this country ; and in some parts of 
it they are doubtless economical. When well kept, they are 
certainly very beautiful. 

Among the plants employed in this country with more or less 
success for hedges are the buckthorn, the hawthorn, the bar- 
berry, the althea or rose of Sharon, the Osage orange, the 
American arbor vita?, the American holly, the hemlock spruce, 
the white cedar, the evergreen thorn (Cratcegus pyracantha), 
the Cherokee rose, and the white Macartney rose. 

For the Middle, Western, and some of tbe Northern States, 
the Osage orange seems to be, on the whole, the best. It also 
succeeds at the South; but there the evergreen thorn, the 
Cherokee rose, and especially the single white Macartney rose, 
are preferable. 

The soil for a hedge row must be deeply plowed or spaded, 
and, if poor, manured a little. The space thus prepared should 
be at least two feet wide, and with a soil from eighteen inches 
to two feet deep. The best way is to open a trench of the 
required width and depth, throw some well-rotted manure in 
the bottom, and then fill up with the surface earth. Along the 
middle of this filled trench stretch a line, and make holes under 
it in the soft earth every six or eight inches, with a "dibble" 
or pointed stick. Set your plants in the holes precisely as you 
would plant cabbages, pressing the earth around the roots, and 
leaving only one inch of the top visible above the surface. The 
plants may be either one or two years old, and the tops should 
be cut off within two inches of the root. The young hedge 
must be well cultivated for several years, and cut back once or 
twice a year till it shall be four feet high. The conical shape 
is best for a hedge, as it admits every shoot to the benefit of 
the air and light. Where vacancies occur, vigorous shoots 
may be " layered" — that is, fastened to the ground with hooked 



68 The Farm. 

pegs, when they will take root and send up sprouts to fill the 
open spaces. 

The editor of the Country Gentleman very truly says : " Not 
one Osage orange hedge in twenty succeeds, simply necause it is 
expected to take care of itself after setting out. Constant cul- 
ture and cutting are as essential as air and food to animals." 

Evergreens make the handsomest hedges ; and although less 
stout, yet by shutting out sight are usually quite safe. The 
Norway fir is the fastest grower — the hemlock most beautiful, 
and the best of any for the shade of trees; the growth is, 
however, rather slow. It shears finely, and its interior is 
dense. The Norway fir also does well on these points. 

At the South we should choose the single white Macartney 
rose for general cultivation ; although the Cherokee rose, when 
properly treated, the evergreen thorn, the honey locust, the 
jujube, and the Spanish bayonet (Yucca gloriosa) all form effi- 
cient and beautiful hedges. 

Mr. Redmond, one of the editors of the Southern Cultivator, 
gives the following directions for the cultivation of rose hedges ; 
and no one is better qualified to speak on this point : 

" As a general rule, both the Macartney and Cherokee roses 
are improperly planted. To succeed with them, it is necessary 
to open two parallel ditches or trenches about four feet apart, 
heaping the earth along the center in the form of a sloping 
bank. At the oase of this bank, on each side, plant 12-inch 
cuttings in December or January, training the tops over the 
bank from each side. Having this bank as a foundation, they 
will constantly layer themselves and grow close at the oottom, 
and will interlace their thorny branches so intricately that no 
animal can pass through. The ditch on each side forms an 
additional obstruction to the passage of animals, and forms a 
definite boundary or limit to the hedge — to which limit only 
the ends of the branches must be allowed to extend. In trim- 
ming, a man passes rapidly along the bottom of the ditch, 
clipping off even with the inner side all the straggling ends of 
the plants. In order to explain this system of rose hedges 



Fences. 69 

more fully, we will endeavor to give a drawing hereafter. In 
the mean time, let it be remembered that the cuttings must 
always be planted at the bottom, never at the top of the bank 
— the latter situation being too dry to make them grow off 
vigorously." 




SECTION OF MODEL HEDGE. 



A really good and perfect hedge should form a rounded 
pyramid, similar to the accompanying cut, branching out 
broadly and close to the ground, and tapering up either sharply 
or obtuse, as the taste of the cultivator may determine. This 
is a fundamental principle in all hedging, and unless it is secured 
at the outset by proper trimming, it can never be done aftei- 
ward. 

III.— A HINT OR TWO. 

But let your fence be of what kind it may, it is necessary, in 
the words of our motto, to "keep an eye" upon it. Some acci- 
dent may cause a breach in the best fence, and a fence that is 
not perfectly efficient is worse than none. A fence, to accom- 
plish the purpose of a fence, must not only be able to "stand 
alone," but must bear a little jostling. Your cattle may very 
innocently rub themselves against it. If it tumble down, who 
can blame them if they walk into the adjoining field, or into 
the highway, as the case may be? And you underrate their 
sagacity if you suppose that they will not take a hint from the 
accident, and rub again for the express purpose of producing 
the result obtained before without a purpose. Kail bars arc 



TO The Farm. 

often slipped out in this way. Gates are much better. " When 
bars are used, they should be let down so near the ground that 
every animal can step over conveniently ; nor should they be 
hurried over so fast as to induce any animal to jump. In 
driving a flock of sheep through them, the lower bars ought to 
be taken entirely out, or they be allowed to go over the bars in 
single file. Animals will seldom become jumpers, except 
through their owner's fault, or from some bad example set 
them by unruly associates ; and unless the fences be perfectly 
secure, such ought to be stalled till they can be disposed of. 
The farmer will find that no animal will repay him the trouble 
and cost of expensive fences and ruined crops." 

IV.-AKE FENCES NECESSAEY? 

The burden and expense of fence-making is so great that 
the question has very naturally been raised whether it would 
not be better, in an economical point of view, to dispense with 
them entirely. It is said that the greatest investment of capital 
in this country is in the common fences which divide the fields 
from the highway, and separate them from each other. Dt 
they pay ? 

In France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and other parts of Eu 
rope, fences are seldom seen. When cattle or sheep are pas 
tured in these countries, they are placed under the care of a 
herdsman or shepherd, who, with the aid of his sagacious and 
well-trained dog, easily keeps a large herd or flock within pre- 
scribed limits, which are marked by a slight ditch, or in some 
other simple wa^. Does the labor of the herdsman and his» 
dog cost more than the fences which would have been required 
without him ? In those countries undoubtedly not. In refer- 
ence to the United States we have not the necessary estimates 
or the exact data on which to base them ; but, according to the 
figuies given 1n the following extract from an article published 
in the Ohio Farmer, it appears that fences do not always pay, 
even here, where labor costs so much more than in Europe. 
After mentioning the fact that the ancients had no fences, and 



Fences. 71 

that there are none in France, and declaring them wholly un- 
necessary here, the writer goes on : 

" The fences in our State cost more than its railroads. Now, 
this huge amount of capital is, to all intents and purposes, dead. 
More, it is a decaying capital ; annually a large amount of its 
depreciated stock must be replaced. These repairs cost im- 
mense sums of timber, time, and hard work. But the evil does 
not stop here : timber is decreasing in quantity and quality ; for 
rails, posts, and stakes require a great deal, and that of the best 
kind, while our vast prairies have no timber at all hardly for 
fencing. 

" And there are other evils connected with this expensive 
and stupid modern invention. Fences become the refuge of 
vermin and all manner of noxious weeds. Then, too, they act 
as natural and annual distributors of these weeds. The fence 
protects the weed till it is ripe, and then furnishes the seed to 
the first high winds of winter and spring. 

" In addition to these objections to fences, we might mention 
that they occupy a great deal of ground. 

" Now, what are their advantages ? They keep cattle in their 
proper places, protecting the farmer against his own and other 
people's cattle. But what need is there for anybody's cattle to 
run at large? There are laws now prohibiting some kinds of 
animals from running abroad ; why not extend it to all ? It is 
our impression that it would be much more economical to hire 
help to attend them in the field and in the stable than to pay 
for fences, fencing, and waste lands occupied by fences. 

" "We will append a few figures, from our own experience, in 
order to present to the farming community the importance of 
looking at this matter. "We claim no special accuracy for our 
statistics, but they are, in the main, correct ; and if they will 
call out from one or more of our farmers and agricultural pro- 
fessors the facts in the case, as they exist in our State, we shall 
feel that our object has been accomplished. 

" Taking our own observations as a guide, these are the fig- 
ures : Chestnut rails are worth six dollars per hundred ; oak 



72 The Farm. 

stakes, about three dollars per hundred. It takes fourteen rails 
and four stakes per rod for a worm fence ; in round numbers, 
it costs one dollar per rod. This would be three hundred and 
twenty dollars per mile, and there were seven miles of fence, 
making two thousand two hundred and forty dollars for the 
fencing material. Now, add to this first cost the price of haul- 
ing, of setting up, or keeping in repair, of decay, and of the 
waste of land occupied. If you pay for bringing these rails to 
their proper places and putting them up, the first cost of mate- 
rial will be three thousand dollars. First cost of material and 
work, three thousand dollars; interest at six per cent., one 
hundred and eighty dollars; annual decay, six per cent., one 
hundred and eighty dollars ; annual repairs, three per cent., 
ninety dollars ; loss of land, five per cent., one hundred and 
fifty dollars. Annual cost, five hundred dollars. 

" Could not this sum be better used?" 

We suspect that in reference to large portions of the "West, 
at least, the writer's closing question may be answered in the 
affirmative. 



Farm Implements and Their Use. 73 



VI. 

FARM IMPLEMENTS AND THEIR U 

'Tis time to clear your plowshare in the glebe. — Graham. 

I.-THE PLOW. 




/^ 



ISTORY does not inform us when plows were 
PHI \ first used; but there are traces of them in the 
"^ earliest of all written authorities — the Bible. 
By consulting the sacred records (Deut. xxii. 10) we 
find that in very early times they plowed with two oxen, 
- y JXo and that their plow had a coulter and plowshare (Sam. 
xiii. 20) ; and drawings of early Greek plows show that 
they were furnished with wheels. The plows of Rome were 
of the most simple form. "Nothing," J. J. Thomas says, 
"shows the improvements of modern agriculture more con- 
spicuously than the difference between the old and new plows." 
The "old plow" is still used in many countries where farmers 
do not enjoy the benefit of agricultural periodicals. The accom- 
panying cut represents the plow at present used in Morocco. 
It would hardly receive the premium of the State Agricultural 
Society, and has probably never been patented. It may, how- 
ever, be made very cheaply, the point only being shod with 
iron. In the less civilized regions of Morocco the plow consists 
only of a crooked limb of a tree, with a projecting branch 

4 



74 



The Faem. 



sharpened to a point for scratching up the ground. The Moors 
do not take the agricultural papers.* 




A MOORISH PLOW. 



Compare the rude implement of the Moor with the improved 
Eagle Plow of Nourse, Mason & Co., here represented. This 




THE EAGLE PLOW. 



is a No. 2, and is a medium-sized two-horse or cattle sod or stub- 
ble plow. It is adapted to turn sod furrows from four to seven 
inches deep by from twelve to fourteen inches wide, and will work 
somewhat deeper in stubble plowing. It is rigged with the lock 
coulter, wheel, draft-rod, and dial clevis, as represented by the 
cut, and with these fixtures is a very strong, and at the same 
time light plow for two cattle or horses, in plowing stony, 
stumpy, or rough, uneven land. Or it is rigged with wheel and 
cutter, for flat furrows in smooth land. There are other sizes, 
both larger and smaller than this, and for general use no plow 
has given better satisfaction. 

An admirable plow for turning under sward deeply is the 
Double Michigan. " It has two mold-boards. The forward or 
small one skims the surface, taking off a few inches of the top 
of the sod, and laying it in the bottom of the previous furrow; 

* Annual Eegister of Kural Affairs. 



Farm Implements and Theik Use. 75 

and the second or large mold-board turns up what is left, and 
completely buries the former. Three strong horses will draw 
this plow when of the smaller size, and will run a furrow eight 
or nine inches deep ; but the larger sized plow requires nearly 
double this force, and will cut a furrow a foot deep, 

" The Michigan plow prepares sod ground in the best manner 
for planting corn, the mellow soil which is thrown on the sod 
being deep enough to allow a coat of manure to be buried 
afterward a few inches by means of a gang-plow. 

" WHen the subsoil is of such a nature as not to enrich the 
top soil when thrown up and mixed with it, or when it is de- 
sirable to loosen up a deep bed of mellow earth to serve as a 
reservoir for moisture, the subsoil plow serves a valuable pur- 
pose. It is also useful for loosening the soil to allow the trench 
or Michigan plow to enter more fully to a greater depth. 

" The subsoil plow merely loosens the earth, but does not 
turn it up to the surface. It is made to follow in the furrow 
of a common plow. It runs much deeper than the trench plow, 
with the same force of team. Four horses attached to a strong 
plow, running in a furrow seven inches deep, will loosen the 
earth to a depth of fifteen to eighteen inches. The benefit of 
subsoiling depends essentially on keeping the ground well 
drained ; for if the loosened earth is afterward allowed to be- 
come thoroughly soaked or flooded with water, it soon becomes 
compacted together again, and the operation proves of no per- 
manent advantage. This is one fruitful source of failure."* 

The ridging or 
double mold- 
board plow is a 
very useful im- 
plement. It is 
used for opening 
drills to plant m.u mol^au, mw. 

potatoes, corn, etc.; in plowing between narrow rows; in dig* 

* J. J. Thomas. 




76 



The Farm, 



ging potatoes, etc. No farmer should be without it. It is a 
light one-horse plow. 

The side-hill or swivel-plow is so constructed that the mold- 
board is easily and instantly changed from one side to the other, 
which enables the plowman to perform the work horizontally 
Upon hillsides, going back and forth on the same side, and 
turning all the furrow slices downward. This prevents the 
washing of the soil by heavy rains, to which all hillsides are 
more or less liable when plowed up and down the slope. Such 
a plow should be considered indispensable at the South.* 

II.-THE HAREOW. 

Next to the plow in the order of description, as well as of 
ttse, comes the harrow. Like the plow, it was anciently a very 




IMPROVED HINGE HARROW. 

rude implement ; and it is only quite recently that it has reached 
the high degree of efficiency and facility of action which char- 



Farm Implements and Their Use. 71 



acterize the best implements of the present day. " He must 
have lived to little purpose who is content to use the clumsy, 
coarse harrow of former days." 

One of the best of the improved harrows is the hinge har- 
row represented by the accompanying cut. This harrow may 
be folded double, or separated into two parts, for the conve- 
nience of transportation or other purpose. Either half may be 
lifted for any purpose while the implement is in motion ; and the 
easy and independent play of the parts up and down upon the 
hinges enables the instrument to adapt itself to the surface of 
the ground in all places, so that whether going through hollows, 
or over knolls or ridges, it is always at work, and every tooth 
has an operation upon the soil. 

The Geddes harrow and the Hanford harrow, triangular in 
shape, are also excellent implements; and for light grounds, 
free from stones and other obstructions, the Scotch or square 
harrow serves its purpose admirably. 




TFftS-SC. 



The accompanying engraving represents a harrow recently 
patented by Samuel J. Orange, of Grayville, 111. It involves 
the rotary principle, the rotation being produced by the press- 
ure of the rollers g g upon the wheels A A. It has the im- 
portant advantage, that while it secures the rotation of the 
wheels, it at the same time avoids side draft. 



78 



The Faem. 



III.-THE CULTIVATOR 

This is a useful implement for stirring the soil and killing 
weeds. It is generally made to be drawn by one horse, and is 
mostly used between the rows of corn, potatoes, cotton, etc. 
It is made so as to expand or contract, according to the width 
of the rows. It saves a great deal of hard labor ; but must 
not be allowed to usurp the place of the plow where deep cul- 
tivation is required. 

IV.— THE HORSE HOE. 

Allied to the cultivator is the horse hoe in its various forms. 
"Knox's patent has four teeth. The forward one is simply a 
coulter, to keep the implement steady and in a straightforward 
direction ; the two side or middle teeth are miniature plows, 
which may be changed from one side to the other, so as to turn 
the earth from the rows at first weeding, when the plants are 
small and tender, or toward them in later cultivation — at the 
option of the operator ; the broad rear tooth effectually disposes 
of grasses and weeds, cutting off or rooting up all that come in its 
way. It is a thorough pulverizer of the surface, sifting the earth 




HORSE HOB FOR COTTON. 

and weeds through its iron prongs or fingers in the rear, leaving 
the weeds on the surface to wilt and die, and the ground levej 



Farm Implements and Their Use. 79 

and mellow. For hoeing carrots, turnips, etc., where the rows 
are narrow, the side teeth are taken out, and the rear tooth, 
with the forward one as a director to guide the instrument, hoes 
and mellows the ground between the rows very perfectly." 
Our engraving represents a modification of Knox's horse hoe, 
adapting it particularly to the cultivation of cotton. 

V.-THE FIELD EOLLEE. 

No good farmer will omit this useful implement from his list. 
It levels and smooths the plowed land on sowing down to 



\yOGDBK FIII.D HOLLER. 

grass, forcing sods and small stones into the soft ground, pul- 
verizing all lumps of earth, pressing the light, loose soil of the 
surface around the seeds of grain, grass, etc., securing a sure 
and quick germination and growth of the seeds, and preparing 
a smooth, even surface for the reaper, scythe, and rake. By 
making the earth compact at the surface, insects are deprived 
of shelter; otherwise the sods, loose stoues, and lumps of earth 
afford them convenient habitations. In spring there is fre- 
quently great advantage in rolling lands recently sowed to grain 
and grass, as the earth that has been raised by the frost, exposing 
the roots of plants, is replaced by the operation, with benefit to 
tli© growing crop. The roller is particularly beneficial on light 
lands, of soil too loose and porous to retain moisture and pro- 



80 



The Faem, 



tect the manure from the effects of drying winds and a scorch 
ing sun, and too light too allow the roots of plants a firm hold 
in the earth ; for on such lands its compressing effect, especially 
in dry seasons, very much increases the product of crop as well 
as preserves the manure from undue evaporation, thus saving a 
greater portion of its fertilizing properties for the benefit of the 
land and succeeding crops. 

YL— SEED SOWEES. 

Every former or gardener needs a seed-sower of some sort ; 

but one of the small- 
est and simplest of 
the many kinds man- 
ufactured will serve 
the purpose of the 
majority of agricul- 
turists. The light 
hand-drill represent- 
ed by the accom- 
panying cut will be 
found entirely satisfactory where the work to be performed by 
such an implement 
is limited. The 
seed sower repre- 
sented by the next 
engraving is larger, 
and rather more ef- 
fective, but still 
light and cheap. 
With proper care, 
either of these little 
implements will do the work required of them, in garden and 
field, for many years, without requiring renewal or repair. 

VIE— THE HOESE EAKE. 

The utility of this simple implement is not fully realized, we 




A SMALL IIAND-DKILL. 




SEED-SOWER. 



Faem Implements and Their Use. 81 

are sure, or it would be more generally employed. One man, 
with a horse and a boy (and with some of the implements the 
boy is not required), will, upon a favorable surface, perform 
the work of eight men with hand-rakes. A horse-rake is not 
an expensive implement, and every farmer should have one. 
The old revolver is perhaps the best for general use. 

VIII.— MO WEES, EEAPEES, ETC. 

Of the expensive labor-saving agricultural implements, like 
the mower, the reaper, and the thrasher, it does not fall within 
our purpose to speak, further than to recommend our readers 
to avail themselves of the grand economies which they afford, 
whenever they can, by combinations with their neighbors for 
joint ownership of such machines, or by employing those kept 
for the purpose of being hired out. The small farmer can not 
aiford to invest capital, of which he generally has too little, in 
these implements for himself alone. Those who are engaged 
in cultivation on a large scale, and have adequate capital, should, 
of course, own these labor-saving machines.* 

For a complete list of farm implements, with an approximate 
estimate of their cost, see the next chapter. 

* For most of the cuts used in illustrating this chapter, as well as for a por- 
tion of the descriptions given, we are indebted to the Descriptive and Illus- 
trated Catalogue of Nourse, Mason & Co., whose implements have won a 
deservedly high reputation in every part of the country. Their address U 
Quincy Hall, Boston, Mass. 



82 



The Farm. 



VII. 
FARM MANAGEMENT. 

A little farm well tilled ; 
A little barn well Hlled ; 
A little wife well willed. 

I.-INTKODUCTOEY. 




i the permission of our much respected 
friend, the author, we here present, un- 
abridged, the interesting and valuable Essay 
on Farm Management, by J. J. Thomas, 
which obtained the prize from the New York State 
Agricultural Society, in 1844. The author, in ac- 
cording permission to use this document, expresses 
his regret that he has not the leisure to rewrite it, as it was 
written many years ago, under much disadvantage, and is con- 
sequently less perfectly adapted to its purpose than he might 
now make it. The reader will, however, find it, in its present 
form, worth more than anything else that we could condense 
into the same space. 



II.— THE PEIZE ESSAY. 

ON FARM MANAGEMENT. 
BY J. J. THOMAS. 

The great importance of performing in the best manner the 
different operations of agriculture is obvious to every intelligent 



Farm Management. 83 

mind, for on this depends the success of farming. But a good per- 
formance of single operations merely does not constitute the best 
farming. The perfection of the art consists not only in doing every- 
thing well individually, but in a proper adjustment and system- 
atic arrangement of all the parts, so that they shall be done not 
only in the best manner and at the right time, but with the most 
effective and economical expenditure of labor and money. Every- 
thing must move on with clock-work regularity, without inter- 
ference, even at the most busy seasons of the year. 

As this subject includes the whole routine of farming in a col- 
lected view as well as in its separate details, a treatise upon it 
might be made to fill volumes ; but this being necessarily con- 
fined to a few pages, a general outline, with some remarks on its 
more essential parts, can only be given. 

Capital. — The first requisite in all undertakings of magnitude 
is to "count the cost." The man who commences a building, 
which to finish would cost ten thousand dollars, with a capital of 
only five thousand, is as certainly ruined as many farmers are 
who, without counting the cost, commence on a scale to which 
their limited means are wholly inadequate. One of the greatest 
mistakes which young farmers make in this country, in their anx- 
ious wish for large possessions, is, not only in purchasing more 
land than they can pay for, but in the actual expenditure of all 
their means, without leaving any even to begin the great work of 
farming. Hence, the farm continues for a long series of years 
poorly provided with stock, with implements, with manure, and 
with the necessary labor. From this heavy drawback on the prof- 
its of his land, the farmer is kept long in debt ; the burden of 
which not only disheartens him, but prevents that enterprise and 
energy which are essential to success. This is one fruitful reason 
why American agriculture is in many places in so low a state. A 
close observer, in traveling through the country, is thus enabled 
often to decide from the appearances of the buildings and premises 
of each occupant, whether he is in or out of debt. 

In England, where the enormous taxes of different kinds impe- 
riously compel the cultivator to farm well or not farm at all, the 
indispensable necessity of a heavy capital to begin with is fully 
understood. The man who merely rents land there, must possess 
as much to stock it and commence operations as the man who buy? 



84 The Faem. 

and pays far a farm of equal size in some of our "best farming dis 
tricts. The result is, that he is enabled to do everything in the 
best manner ; he is not compelled to bring his goods prematurely 
to market to supply his pressing wants ; and by having ready 
money always at command, he can perform every operation at the 
very best season for product and economy, and make purchases 
when necessary at the most advantageous rate. The English 
farmer is thus able to pay an amount of tax often more than the 
whole product of farms of equal extent in this country. 

The importance of possessing the means of doing everything at 
exactly the right season can not be too highly appreciated. One 
or two illustrations may set this in a clearer light. Two farmers 
had each a crop of ruta-bagas of an acre each ; the first, by hoeing 
his crop early while the weeds were only an inch high, accomplished 
the task with two days' work, and the young plants then grew 
vigorously and yielded a heavy return. The second, being pre- 
vented by a deficiency of help, had to defer his hoeing one week, 
and then three days more by rainy weather, making ten days in 
all ; during this time the weeds had sprung up six to ten inches 
high ; so as to require, instead of two days, no less than six days to 
hoe them ; and so much was the growth of the crop checked at this 
early stage that the owner had 150 bushels less in his acre than the 
farmer who took time by the forelock. Another instance occur- 
red with an intelligent farmer of this State, who raised two fields 
of oats on land of similar quality. One field was sown very early, 
and well put in, and yielded a good profit. The other was de- 
layed twelve days and then hurried ; and although the crop was 
within two thirds of the amount of the former, yet that difference 
was just the clear profit of the first crop ; so that with the latter 
the amount yielded only paid the expenses. 

Admitting that the farm is already purchased and paid for, it 
becomes an object to know what else is needed and at what cost, 
before cultivation is commenced. If the buildings and fences are 
what they should be, which is not often the case, little immedi- 
ate outlay will be needed for them. But if not, then an estimate 
must be made of the intended improvements, and the necessary 
gum allotted for them. These being all in order, the following 
items requiring an expenditure of capital will be required on a 
good farm of 100 acres of improved land. 



Farm Management. 85 

I. LIVESTOCK. 

The amount will vary with the fertility and products of the land, 
its quality, and situation with regard to market. The following 
will approximate the average on good farms taken at the spring 
of the year or commencement of work :* 

3 Horses, at $100 $300 

1 Yoke oxen 150 

8 Milch cows, at *3i» 240 

10 Steers, heifers, and calves 100 

10 Pigs, at $3 30 

1*) Sheep, at $2 50 875 

Poultry— say 5 

Total $1,200 

II. IMPLEMENTS. 

2 Plows fitted for work $20 00 

ISmallplow, do 6 00 

1 Cultivator, best kind 7 00 

1 Drill-barrow 5 00 

1 Eoller 5 00 

1 Harrow 10 00 

1 Fanning-mill 20 00 

1 Straw-cutter 15 00 

1 Eoot-slicer 8 00 

1 Farm-wagon, with hay-rack etc 70 00 

1 Ox-cart 50 00 

1 Double farm harness 30 00 

1 Horse-cart 45 00 

1 Horse-cart harness IS 00 

1 Koot-steamer, or boiler 20 00 

1 Shovel and one spade 2 50 

3 Steel-plate hoes , 1 50 

2 Dung-forks 2 00 

3 Hay-forks 2 25 

2 Hand-rakes 25 

1 Eevolving borse-rake 8 00 

1 Grain-cradle 4 00 

2 Scythes 4 00 

1 Wheelbarrow 4 00 

1 Pointed shovel 1 25 

1 Grain-shovel, or scoop-shovel. 1 25 

1 Pick 150 

Carried forward ~ $361 50 

* We allow the figures to stand as in our first edition. If we add to each 
aum the premium on gold, we shall approximate present prices. 



8(3 The Farm. 

Brought forward $861 50 

1 Mall and wedges 2 50 

2 Axes 4 00 

1 Hammer 50 

1 Wood-saw 1 00 

1 Turnip-hook 75 

1 Hay-knife 1 00 

2 Apple-ladders (for gathering). 1 50 

2 Large baskets 125 

2 Hand-baskets 50 

1 Tape-line (for laying off land) 2 00 

2 Sheep-shears 2 00 

1 Grindstone . 3 00 

1 Steel-yard, large, and one small .' 2 00 

1 Stable lantern 50 

1 Curry-comb, and one brush 75 

1 Half-bushel measure 1 00 

20 Grain-bags 5 00 

1 Ox-chain 3 00 

1 Crow-bar 2 00 

1 Sled and fixtures 30 00 

Total $425 75 

Other articles might he included, as suhsoil plow, sowing ma- 
chine, threshing machine, etc. To the preceding amount ought 
to he added one-tenth the expense of fencing the farm, as fences 
need renewing at least once in ten years. Every farmer should also 
be supplied with a small set of carpenter's tools, which would cost 
about $12, for repairing implements in rainy weather and other 
useful purposes. This set should include saw, hammer, augers, 
planes, adze, mallet, chisel, square, breast-bits, etc., and by the 
convenience and economy afforded, would soon repay their cost. 

III. SEEDS. 

2^ Bushels clover seed for 10 acres. $15 00 

2 " corn " " 6 " 1 00 

20 ' potatoes v " 2 " 10 00 

2 " carrot " 1 " 1 00 

40 Bushels seed wheat "20 " 40 00 

10 " oats " 4 " 4 00 

10 " barley " 5 " 6 00 

Total $-77 00 

IV. LABOR. 

Supposing the owner to labor with his own hands, as over} 
owner should, so far as is consistent with a general superintend 



Farm Management. 87 

ence of all parts, which would probably amount to one half the 
time, he would need besides through the season two men and one 
boy, and in the winter one man ; during haying and harvest he 
would require two additional hands. The men boarding them- 
selves, could be had for twenty dollars per month in summer and 
sixteen in winter ; if boarded, the cost of their meals would make 
up the deficiency in the wages to the same amount. The expend- 
iture needed, then, would be, 

2 Hired men, eight months, $20 per month $320 00 

1 " boy, " " 10 " 80 00 

Day labor in harvest 30 00 

Total $430 00 

V. MAINTENANCE OF ANIMALS. 

Cattle and sheep would need hay till fresh pasture, and horses 
hay, and also a good supply of oats till after harvest. All would 
be benefited by a liberal feeding of roots, including swine. The 
amount of all these supplies needed would be about, 

7 Tons of hay $42 00 

200 Bushels oats 80 00 

400 " roots 50 00 

Total $172 00 

RECAPITULATION. 

Livestock $1,200 00 

Implements 425 75 

Seeds 77 00 

Labor 430 00 

Maintenance of animals 172 00 

Total $2,3u4 75 

— the amount of capital needed the first year, in stocking and 
conducting satisfactorily the operations of one hundred acres of 
improved land, several items being doubtless omitted. 

If this is a larger sum than the young farmer can command, 
let him purchase only fifty acres, and reserve the rest of the pur- 
chase money which would be needed for the one hundred acres, 
to commence with on a smaller farm, and he will scarcely fail to 
make more than on a larger, with every part subjected to an im- 
perfect, hurrying, and irregular management. He may calculate, 
perhaps, on the return of his crops in autumn, at least to pay his 



88 The Farm. 

hands. But he must remember that the first year of farming is 
attended with many expenses which do not usually occur after- 
ward, which his crops may not repay, besides supporting his fam- 
ily and paying his mechanics' and merchants' bills. The first 
year must always be regarded with uncertainty ; and it is better 
to come out at the end on a moderately sized farm, wull tilled 
and in fine order, with money in pocket, than on a larger one, in 
debt, and hired hands — a class of men not to be disappointed, and 
who ought not to be — waiting for their pay. There are a far 
greater number of farmers embarrassed and crippled by placing 
their estimate of expenses too low, than of those who swing clear 
and float freely by a full previous counting of cost. 

Size of Farms. — After what has just been said, the cultivator 
will perceive in part the advantages of moderately sized farms for 
men in moderate circumstances. The great disadvantage of a su- 
perficial, skimming culture is obvious with a moment's attention. 
Take the corn crop as an illustration. There are a great many 
farmers, to my certain knowledge, whose yearly product per acre 
does not exceed an average of twenty-five bushels. There are other 
farmers, whom I also well know , who obtain generally not less than 
sixty bushels per acre, and often eighty to ninety-five. Now ob- 
serve the difference in the profits of each. The first gets 250 
bushels from ten acres. In doing this, he has to plow ten acres, 
harrow ten acres, mark out ten acres, find seed for ten acres, plant, 
cultivate, hoe, and cut up ten acres, besides paying the interest on 
ten acres, worth from three to five hundred dollars. The other 
farmer gets 250 bushels from four acres at the farthest ; and he 
only plows, plants, cultivates, and hoes, to obtain the same amount, 
four acres, which from their fine tilth, and freedom from grass and 
weeds, is much easier done, even for an equal surface. The same 
reasoning applies throughout the farm. Be sure, then, to culti- 
vate no more than can be done in the best manner, whether it be 
ten, fifty, or five hundred acres. A friend who owned a four-hun- 
dred-acre farm told me that he made less than his next neighbor, 
who had only seventy-five. Let the man who applies a certain 
amount of labor every year to his farm reduce its dimensions until 
that labor accomplishes everything in the very best manner. He 
will doubtless find that the amount of land will thus become much 
smaller than he supposed, more so than most would be willing t& 



Farm Management. 89 

reduce it ; but, on the other hand, the net proceeds from it will 
augment to a greater degree than perhaps could possibly be 
believed. 

But let me not be misunderstood. Large farms are by no means 
to be objected to, provided the owner has capital enough to per- 
form all the work as well as it is now done on the best farms of 
small size. 

As an example of what may be obtained from a small piece of 
land, the following products of fifty acres are given, and are not 
more than I have known repeatedly to be taken from good land 
by several thorough farmers : 

10 Acres wheat, 35 bushels per acre, at $1 00 $850 00 

5 " com, 9U " " 40 ISO 00 

2 " potatoes, 300 " " 20.... 120 00 

1 Acre ruta-bagas, 800 " " 10 80 00 

6 Acres winter apples, 250 " • 25 375 00 

6 " hay, 2} tons " 6 00.... 90 00 

10 " pasture, worth 60 00 

5 " barley, 40 bushels per acre 40 80 00 

5 " oats, 50 " " 20 50 00 



Total products of fifty acres of very fine land $1,385 00 

This aggregate yield is not greater than that obtained by some 
who might be named, from a similar quantity of land. Good 
land in most localities could be brought to that state of fertility 
very easily, at a total cost of one hundred dollars per acre, and 
then it would be incomparably cheaper than many large good 
farms at nothing ; for, while the fifty acres could be tilled for 
three hundred and eighty-five dollars, leaving one thousand dol- 
lars net profits, large poor farms hardly pay the work spent upon 
them. One proprietor of such a farm declared, " It requires me 
and my hired man all summer hard at work to get enough to pay 
him only." 

Laying out Farms. — This department is very much neglected. 
The proper disposition of the different fields, for the sake of econ- 
omy in fencing, for convenience of access, and for a full command 
of pasture and protection of crops at all times, has received com- 
paratively little attention from our agricultural writers and from 
farmers. 

Many suppose that this business is very quickly disposed of; that 
& very few minutes, or hours at most, will enable a man to plan 



90 The Farm. 

the arrangement of his fields about right. But this is a great 
error. Even when a farm is of the simplest form, on a flat, uni- 
form piece of ground, many things are to be borne in mind in 
laying it out. 

In the first place we all know that the fencing of a moderately 
sized farm costs many hundred dollars. It is very desirable to do 
it well, and use at the same time as little material as possible. To 
do this much will depend on the shape of the fields. A certain 
length of fence will inclose more land in the form of a square than 
in any other practical shape. Hence fields should approach this 
form as nearly as possible. Again, the disposition of lanes is a 
matter of consequence, so as to avoid unnecessary length and fenc- 
ing and occupy the least quantity of ground. 

But these rules may be materially affected by other consider- 
ations. For instance, it is very desirable that land of a similar 
quality may be in the same inclosure. Some may be naturally 
too wet for anything but meadow or pasture : some may be much 
lighter, and susceptible of plowing, while others are not : some may 
be naturally sterile, and need unusual manuring wi^i green crops. 
All these should, as far as practicable, be included each in its own 
separate boundary. The situation of surface drains, forming the 
boundaries of fields, may influence their shape ; facilities for irri 
gation may have an essential bearing : convenience for watering 
cattle is not to be forgotten. Where, in addition to all these 
considerations, the land is hilly, still more care and thought are 
required in the subdivision, which may possibly require years of 
experience ; but where fixed fences are once made, it is hard to 
remove them ; hence a previous thorough examination should be 
made. A farm road, much used for heavy loads, should be made 
hard and firm, and can not easily be altered ; it consequently should 
be exactly in the right place, and be dry, level, and short ; the 
shape of adjoining fields even conforming with these requisitions ; 
but a road little used should not interfere with the outlines of fields. 
6 ^ - o -o e< fli o o 

In laying out a farm with a very uneven surface or irregular 
shape, it would* be best to draw, first, a plan adapted to smooth 
ground, and then vary the size and shape of the fields, the dis- 
tance of the lane from the center, its straightness, etc. , accord- 
ing to the circumstances of the case. 



Farm Management. 91 

Fences." — The kind of fence used, and the materials used foi 
its construction, must depend on circumstances and localities. A 
good fence is always to he preferred to an imperfect one ; though it 
will cost more, it will more than save that cost, and three times the 
amount in vexation hesides, by keeping cattle, colts, and pigs out 
of fields of grain. A thriving farmer whose whole land, except a 
small part with stone wall, is inclosed by common rail fence, 
with upright cedar stakes, and connecting caps to the tops, finds 
that it needs renewing once in six years. He accordingly divides 
his whole amount of fences into six parts, one of which is built 
new every year. All is thus kept systematically in good repair. 
Stone walls, if set a foot below the surface to prevent tumbling by 
frost, are the most durable fence. Hedges have not been sufficient- 
ly tried. The English hawthorn is not well adapted to our hotter 
and drier climate, and though sometimes doing well for a time, is 
not to be depended on. 

Gates. — Every field on the farm should be entered by a good 
self- shutting and self-fastening gate. A proper inclination in 
hanging will secure the former requisite, and a good latch, prop- 
erly constructed, the latter. Each field should be numbered, and 
the number painted on the gate-post. Let the farmer who has 
bars instead of gates, make a trial of their comparative convenience, 
by taking them out and replacing them without stopping as often 
as he does in one year on his farm, say about six hundred times, 
and he can not fail to be satisfied which is the cheapest for use. 

Buildings. — These should be as near the center of the farm as 
other considerations will admit. All the hay, grain, and straw 
being conveyed from the fields to the barn, and most of it back 
again in manure, the distance of drawing should be as short as 
possible. This will also save much traveling of men and cattle 
to and from the different parts of the farm. The buildings should 

* Strange as it may seem, the greatest investment in this country, the most 
costly production of human industry, is the common fences which divide the 
fields from the highway, and separate them from each other. No man dreams 
that when compared with the outlay of these unpretending monuments of art, 
our cities and our towns, with all their wealth, are left far behind. You will 
scarce believe me when I say that the fences of :his country have cost more 
than twenty times the specie there is in it. In many of the counties of the 
tf orthern States the fences have cost more than the farms and fences are worth. 
— Burnap. 



92 The Farm. 

not, however, be too remote from the public road, and a good, 
dry, healthy spot should be chosen. The dwelling should be com- 
fortable, but not large ; or it should rather be adapted to the ex- 
tent of the lands. A large, costly house with a small farm and 
other buildings, is an indication of bad management. The cen- 
sure of the old Koman should be avoided, who, having a small 
piece of land, built his house so large that he had less occasion to 
plow than to sweep. 

The barn and out-buildings should be of ample extent. The 
barn should have space for hay, grain, and straw. It is a matter 
of great convenience to have the straw for littering stables housed 
and close at hand, and not out of doors, under a foot of snow. 
There should be plenty of stables and sheds for all domestic ani- 
mals. This provi&ion will not only save one third of the fodder, 
but stock will thrive much better. Cows will give much more 
milk, sheep will yield more and better wool, and all will pass 
through the winter more safely. The wood-house, near or attached 
to the dwelling, should never be forgotten, so long as comfort in 
building fires and economy in the use of fuel are of any import- 
ance. 

A small, cheap, movable horse-power should belong to every 
establishment, to be used in churning, sawing wood, driving wash- 
ing machine, turning grindstone, cutting straw, and slicing roots. 

There should be a large root-cellar under the barn, into which 
the cart may be dumped from the outside. One great objection to 
the culture of roots, in this country — the difficulty of winter keep- 
ing — would then vanish. 

Both barns and house cellars should be well coated, on the bot- 
tom and sides, with water-lime mortar, which is a very cl-ieap and 
effectual way to exclude both water and rats. 

Choice of Implements. — Of those which are much used, the very 
best only should be procured. This will be attended with a gain 
in every way. The work will be easier done and it will be better 
done. A laborer who, by the use of a good hoe for one month, 
can do one quarter more each day, saves, in the whole time, an 
entire week's labor. 

Choice of Animals. — The best of all kinds should be selected, 
even if costing something more than others. Not " fancy" ani- 
mals, but those good for use and profit. Cows should be product- 



Farm Management. 93 

ive of milk, and of a form adapted for beef ; oxen hardy, and fast- 
working ; sheep, kept fine by never selling the best ; .swine, not 
the largest merely, but those fattening best on least food. A Berk- 
shire at 200 pounds, fattened on 10 bushels of corn, is better than 
a " land pike" of 300, fattened on 50 bushels. 

Having now taken some notice of the necessary items for com- 
mencing farming, it remains to glance a little at 

Soils, and their Management. — Soils are of various kinds, as 
heavy and light, wet and dry, fertile and sterile. They all require 
different management in a greater or less degree. 

Heavy soils are often stronger and more productive than light ; 
but they require more labor for pulverization and tillage. They 
can not be plowed when very wet, nor so well when very dry. 
Although containing greater or less portions of clay, they may be 
distinguished, as a class, from lighter soils, by the cloddy surface 
the fields present after plowing in dry weather, by their cracking 
in drouth, and by their adhesiveness after rains. 

Sandy and gravelly loams also contain clays, but in smaller 
quantity ; so that they do not present the cloddiness and adhesive- 
ness of heavy soils. Though possessing, generally, less strength 
than clay soils, they are far more easily tilled, and may be worked 
without difficulty in wet weather. They do not crack or break in 
drouth. Indian corn, ruta-bagas, and some other crops, succeed 
best upon them. Sandy soils are very easily tilled, but are gener- 
ally not strong enough. When made rich, they are fine for some 
succulent crops. Peaty soils are generally light and free, contain- 
ing large quantities of decayed vegetable matter. They are made 
by draining low and swampy grounds. They are fine for Indian 
corn, broom corn, barley, potatoes, and turnips. They are great 
absorbers, and great radiators of heat ; hence they become warm 
in sunshine and cold in clear nights. For this reason they are 
peculiarly liable to frosts. Crops planted upon them must, conse- 
quently, be put in late, after spring frosts are over. Corn should 
be of early varieties, that it may not only be planted late, but 
ripen early. 

Each of these kinds of soil may be variously improved. Heavy 
soils are much improved by draining ; open drains to carry off the 
surface-water, and covered drains, that which settles beneath. An 
acquaintance covered a low, wet, clayey field with under- drains, 



94 The Farm. 

and from a production of almost nothing but grass, it yielded the 
first year forty bushels of wheat per acre, enough to pay the expense, 
and admitted of much easier tillage afterward. Heavy soils are 
also made lighter and freer by manuring ; by plowing under coat- 
ings of straw, rotten chips, and swamp muck ; and, in some rare 
cases, by carting on sand, though this is usually too expensive foi 
practice. Subsoil plowing is very beneficial both in wet seasons 
and in drouth ; the deep loose bed of earth it makes, receiving 
the water in heavy rains, and throwing it off to the soil above, 
when needed ; but a frequent repetition of the operation is needed, 
as the subsoil gradually settles again. 

Sandy soils are improved by manuring, by the application of 
lime, and by frequently plowing in green crops. Leached ashes 
have been found highly beneficial in many places. Where the 
subsoil is clayey, which is often the case, and especially if marly 
clay, great advantage is derived from shoveling it up and spread- 
ing it on the surface. A neighbor had twenty bushels of wheat 
per acre on land thus treated, while the rest of the field yielded 
only five. 

Manures. — These are among the first of requisites in successful 
farm management. They are the strong-moving power in agri- 
cultural operations. They are as the great steam-engine which 
drives the vessel onward. Good and clean cultivation is, indeed, 
all important ; but it will avail little without a fertile soil ; and 
this fertility must be created or kept up. by a copious application 
of manures ; for these contribute directly or assist indirectly to the 
supply of nearly all the nourishment which plants receive. It is 
these which, produced chiefly from the decay of dead vegetable 
and animal matter, combine most powerfully to give new life and 
vigor ; and thus the apparently putrid mass is the very material 
which is converted into the most beautiful forms of nature, and 
plants and brilliant flowers spring up from the decay of old forms ; 
and thus a continued succession of destruction and renovation is 
carried on through an unlimited series of ages. 

Manures possess different degrees of power, partly from their in- 
herent richness, and partly from the rapidity with which they 
throw off their fertilizing ingredients, in assisting the growth of 
plants. These are given off by solution in water, and in the form 
of gas ; the one as a liquid manure, which, running down, ia 



Farm Management. 95 

absorbed by the roots ; and the other, as air, escaping mostly into 
the atmosphere, and lost. 

The great art, then, of saving and manufacturing manure con- 
sists in retaining and applying, to the best advantage, those solu- 
ble and gaseous portions. Probably more than one half of all the 
materials which exist in the country are lost, totally lost, by not 
attending to the drainage of stables and farmyards. This could 
be retained by a copious application of straw ; by littering with 
sawdust, when saw-mills are near ; and, more especially, by the 
frequent coating of yards and stables with dried peat and swamp 
muck, of which many parts of our States furnish inexhaustible 
supplies. I say dried peat or muck, because, if it is already satura- 
ted with water, of which it will often take in five sixths of its own 
weight, it can not absorb the liquid portions of the manure. But 
if it will absorb five sixths in water, it will, when dried, absorb 
five sixths in liquid manure, and, both together, form a very en- 
riching material. The practice of many farmers shows how little 
they are aware of the hundreds they are losing, every yeai, by suf- 
fering this most valuable of their farm products to escape. Indeed, 
there are not a few who carefully, and very ingeniously, as they 
suppose, place their barns and cattle- yards in such a manner, on 
the sides of hills, that all the drainage from them may pass off 
out of the way into the neighboring streams ; and some one men- 
tions a farmer who, with pre-eminent shrewdness, built his hog- 
pen directly across a stream, that he might, at once, get the clean- 
ings washed away, and prevent their accumulation. He, of course, 
succeeded in his wish ; but he might, with almost equal propriety, 
have built his granary across the stream, so as to shovel the wheat 
into the water when it increased on his hands. 

The loss of manure, by the escape of gas, is often very great. 
The proof of this was finely exhibited by Humphrey Davy, in an 
experiment performed by filling a large retort from a heap of fer- 
menting manure, and placing the beak among the roots of some 
grass. Nothing but vapor left the vessel, yet in a few days the 
grass exhibited greater luxuriance around the beak of the retort 
than any of the surrounding portions. Hence the superiority of 
unfermented manures; the rich portions are not yet lost. And 
hence, too, the importance of preventing this loss by an immediate 
application, and plo ving into the soil, or by mixing it in composts 



96 The Farm. 

with muck, peat, swamp mud, and even common earth, in a dry 
state — and of preventing its escape, from stables and yards, by a 
daily strewing with dried peat, lime, or plaster. 

Fresh manure is generally in a state not readily mixed with soils. 
It is thrown into large lumps over the surface, some of which are 
plowed in, others not ; but none of them prove of immediate use 
to the crops. But, on the other hand, fermented manure, from 
its ready pulverization, admits of an easy admixture. But let 
fresh manure be thoroughly ground down and worked into the 
soil by repeated harrowings and two or three plowings, and its 
influence will be like magic. 

Swamp muck has often been spoken of as manure ; but those 
who expect great and striking results from its application will be 
dKappointed. Even with ashes, it is much less powerful than 
stable manure, not only because it possesses less inherent richness, 
but because it has less soluble parts, and, consequently, imparts 
its strength more slowly to growing plants. But this quality 
only makes it the more enduring. By decoction in water, vege- 
table mold loses a small portion of its weight by solution ; but if 
the remaining insoluble part is exposed to the air and moisture a 
few months, another part may be again dissolved. Thus, peat, 
muck, and all decayed vegetable fiber, become a slow but lasting 
source of nourishment to plants. 

But it is when shoveled out and dried, to be mixed" with farm- 
yard manure, as a recipient for its evanescent parts, that peat or 
muck becomes pre-eminently valuable. Some parts of the State 
abound with inexhaustible supplies in almost every neighborhood ; 
many land owners have from twenty to a hundred thousand cubic 
yards on their farms, lying untouched, while half-starved crops 
are growing in the adjacent fields. There are whole counties so 
well supplied with.it that, if judiciously applied, it would, doubt- 
less, double their aggregate products. 

All neat farming, all profitable farming, and all satisfactory 
farming must be attended with a careful saving of manures. The 
people of Flanders have long been distinguished for the neatness 
and excellence of their farms, which they have studied to make 
like gardens. The care with which they collect all refuse materials 
which may be converted into manures, and increase their composts, 
is one of the chief reasons of the cleanliness of their towns and 



Farm Management. 1)7 

residences ; and were this subject fully appreciated and attended 
with a corresponding practice generally, it would, doubtless, 
soon increase, by millions, the agricultural products of the State. 

But there is another subject of scarcely less magnitude. This is 
a systematic 

Rotation of Crops. — If manuring is the steam-engine which 
propels the vessel, rotation is the rudder which guides it in its prog- 
ress. Unlike manuring, rotation does not increase the labor of 
culture : it only directs the labor in the most effective manner by 
the exercise of judgment and thought. 

The limits of this paper do not admit of many remarks on the 
principles of rotation. The following courses, however, have been 
found among some of the best adapted to our State : 

I. 1st year — Corn and roots, well manured. 

2d year— Wheat, sown with clover-seed ; 15 lbs. an acre. 
3d year— Clover, one or more years, according to fertility and amount of 
manure at hand. 
II. 1st year — Corn and roots, with all the manure. 
2d year— Barley and peas. 

3d year— Wheat, sown with clover. » 

4th year— Clover, one or more years. 
III. 1st year — Corn and roots, with all the manure. 
2d year— Barley. 

3d year— Wheat, sown with clover. 
4th year— Pasture. 
5th year— Meadow. 
6th year— Fallow. 
7th year— Wheat. 
% 8th year— Oats, sown with clover. 
9th year— Pasture or meadow. 

The number of the fields must correspond with the number of 
the changes in each course ; the first needing three fields to carry 
it out, the second four, the third nine. As each field contains a 
crop each, in the several successive stages of the course, the whole 
number of fields collectively comprise the entire series of crops 
every year. Thus, in the list above given, there are two fields of 
wheat growing at once, three of meadow and pasture, one of corn 
and roots, one of barley, one of oats, and one in summer fallow. 

Operations in the Order of Time. — The vital consequence of 
doing every thing in the right season is known to every good 
farmer. 

To prevent confusion and embarrassment, and keep all things 
5 



98 The Farm. 

clearly and plainly before the farmer at the right time, he should 
have a small book to carry in his pocket, having every item of 
work for each week or each half month laid before his eyes. This* 
can be done to the best advantage, to suit every particular locality 
and difference of climate, by marking every successive week in the 
season at the top of its respective page. Then as each operation 
severally occurs, let him place it under its proper heading ; or if 
out of season, let him place it back at the right time. Any pro- 
posed improvement can be noted down on the right page. Inter- 
esting experiments are often suggested in the course of reading or 
observation, but forgotten when the time comes to try them. By 
L-ecording them in such a book, under the right week, they are 
brought at once before the mind. Such an arrangement as this 
will prevent a great deal of the confusion and vexation too often 
attendant on multifarious cares, and assist very essentially in con- 
ducting all the farm work with clock-work regularity and satis- 
faction. 

In reviewing the various items which are most immediately 
essential to good farm management, some of the most obvious 
will be — capital enough to buy the farm and to stock it well ; to 
select a size compatible with these requisites ; to lay it out in the 
best manner ; to provide it well with fences, gates, and buildings ; 
to select the best animals, and the best implements to be had 
reasonably ; to bring the soil into good condition, by draining, 
manuring, and good culture ; to have every part under a good 
rotation of crops ; and every operation arranged so as all to be 
conducted systematically, without clashing or confusion. An 
attention to all these points would place agriculture on a very dif- 
ferent footing from its present condition in many places, and with 
most farmers. The business, then, instead of being repulsive, as 
it so frequently is to our young men, would be attended with 
real enjoyment and pleasure. 

But in all improvements, in all enterprises, the great truth must 
not be forgotten, that success is not to be expected without dili- 
gence and industry. We must sow in spring and cultivate well 
in summer, if we would reap an abundant harvest in autumn. 
When we see young farmers commence in life without a strict 
attention to business, which they neglect for mere pleasure, well 
may we in imagination see future crops lost by careless tillage— 



Farm Management. 99 

broken fences, unhinged gates, and fields filled with weeds— tools 
destroyed by heedlessness, property wasted by recklessness, and 
disorder and confusion triumphant ; and unpaid debts, duns, and 
executions already hanging over the premises. But, on the other 
hand, to see cheerful faced, ready-handed industry, directed by 
reason and intelligence, and order, energy, and economy, guiding 
the operations of the farm — with smooth, clean fields, and neat, 
trim fences — rich, verdant pastures, and fine cattle enjoying them ; 
and broad, waving meadows and golden harvests, and waste and 
extravagance driven into exile, we need not fear the success of 
such a farmer ; debts can not stare him in the face, nor duns enter 
his threshold. 

It is such enterprise as this that must place our country on a 
substantial basis. Agriculture, in a highly improved state, must 
be the means which, next to the righteousness which truly exalts 
a nation, will contribute to its enduring prosperity. All trades 
and commerce depend on this great art as their foundation. The 
cultivation of the soil and of plants was the earliest occupation of 
man. It has, in all ages, been his chief means of subsistence ; it 
still continues to furnish employment to the great majority of the 
human race. It is truly the great art of peace, as during wars and 
commotions it has languished and declined, but risen again, in 
strength and vigor, when men have lived at peace with each other ; 
it has then flourished and spread, converted the wilderness into 
life and beauty, and refreshed and adorned nature with embellished 
culture. For its calm and tranquil pleasures— for its peaceful and 
healthful labors— away from the fretful and feverish life of crowd- 
ed cities, " in the free air and beneath the bright sun of heaven'' 
— many who have spent the morning and noon of their lives in 
the anxious cares of commercial life, have long sighed for a scene 
of peace and of quietude for the evening of their days. 



100 



The Farm. 



VIII. 

FARM CROPS. 

Let it rain potatoes. — Shakspeare. 

I. — THE EDIBLE GRAINS. 
1. Indian Coen — Zea Mays. 



ATZE or Indian corn is cultivated in all 
countries and climates. It is a native of 
America, where the ahorigines had cultivated 
it from time immemorial. It now forms 
the most important grain crop of this country, 
growing with luxuriance in every State of the Union, 
and yielding ample harvests everywhere. 
The varieties of maize in cultivation are almost numberless, 
and new sorts are constantly being produced. No plant, per- 
haps, is equally susceptible of modification by hybridizing, 
cultivation, soil, and climate. At the North it is dwarf in its 
habit, and requires but three or four months to bring it to ma- 
turity, while at the South it reaches a magnificent height, and 
is much longer in maturing. A kind of corn cultivated in 
Oregon has a separate sheath or envelop for every distinct ker- 
nel; but in the climate of New York it soon loses this charac- 
teristic, and assumes the more comprehensive husk. So the 
low growing, early Northern corn, if cultivated for a few years 




Farm Crops. 101 

at the South, becomes taller, larger, and later; thus approxi- 
mating to the Southern varieties. 

The principal varieties of Indian corn in extensive use for 
field culture in the United States are the Big White, Big Yellow, 
Little White, Little Yellow, and Virginia Gourd Seed (yellow 
and white). Of each of these there are many sub- varieties. 
The King Philip or Brown Corn, a very early and small-growing, 
but productive variety, is much approved in the more Northern 
States ; and Peabody's Prolific or Tillering Corn, said to be a 
wonderfully productive sort, is adapted to the Southern and 
Middle States ; but it has not yet been extensively tested. In 
the selection of varieties, choose for general planting those that 
have been proved in your own vicinity, as the best sort of one 
locality may prove inferior in another. For trial, get new sorts 
from a more northern latitude, especially where earliness is 
particularly desirable. 

The best soil for corn is a rich loam, but good crops are pro- 
duced, with proper manuring, on light, sandy land. A strong 
clay, or a poor, wet soil, will not produce a good crop. Corn is 
a gross feeder, and, except on very light, sandy soils, fresh, un- 
fermented manure is best for it. Ashes may be added, or ap- 
plied as a top-dressing, with great advantage ; also the salt and 
lime mixture. 

Indian corn should always be planted in hills, and in straight 
rows, both ways, for convenience of cultivation. The distance 
apart of the hills should be from three to five feet, varying with 
the sort of corn and the quality of the land. From three to 
five stalks in a hill is better than a larger number. Soak the 
seed one or two days in a solution of common salt, or, better 
still, of saltpeter, after which apply a coat of tar and plaster, 
according to the directions given in Chapter II. This will not 
only accelerate the growth of the plant, but also afford an effi- 
cient protection against both worms and birds. As to the 
proper depth for covering the seed, much difference of opinion 
exists. We think a depth of one inch, in soil of medium con- 
sistency and humidity, and of two or two and a half inches in 



102 The Farm. 

a dry, sandy soil is sufficient. Plant so soon as the ground is 
sufficiently warm and dry, without respect to the day of the 
month. The blossoming or leafing of certain trees may be 
taken as a guide. Our time is when the flower-buds on the 
apple-trees begin to burst open. 

The after-culture of Indian corn may mostly be performed 
with a light plow and a good cultivator. It should be com- 
menced soon after the plants show themselves above ground ; 
but deep culture of every kind should be discontinued after the 
roots have spread through the soil, as they can not be disturbed 
without great injury. Hilling or heaping the earth about the 
plants is an absurd and injurious process, which, instead of 
helping to support them, as many suppose, greatly weakens the 
stalks, by destroying or covering up the prop-roots with which 
Nature has supplied them. This compels them to partially 
exhaust themselves by putting forth others, which after all can 
not efficiently perform their office. Indian corn requires very 
little, if any, earthing. 

In reference to harvesting Indian corn, a variety of opinions 
prevail. Some advocate topping it soon after the kernels have 
become glazed or checked, believing that such a course hastens 
the ripening of the grain, and that the fodder thus cut is much 
more valuable than when left till the corn is fully ripened. In 
these opinions the advocates of topping are undoubtedly cor- 
rect ; but, on the other hand, experiments seem to prove that 
the weight of the grain and the number of bushels per acre is 
considerably lessened by thus cutting the stalks. The more 
common practice at present, except at the South, i3 to let the 
crop stand till the kernels are principally glazed, and then cut- 
ting all near the surface of the ground, and shocking in the 
field, to remain till dry enough to husk. The grain loses a little 
in weight, no doubt, by this process, but the fodder is more 
valuable than when it stands till fully ripened, and the crop 
thus treated is placed beyond injury from frost. This, for the 
Northern and Middle States, we consider the best way to har- 
vest Indian corn ; although a somewhat greater bulk and weight 



Farm Crops. 103 

of grain may be obtained, if the frosts be long enough deferred, 
by allowing nature to take its course. 

Corn should be perfectly dried in the field, husked, and 
stored in an airy loft, or in a properly constructed granary or crib. 
The proper selection and saving of seed is of great import- 
ance. It should be selected in the field from the earliest and 
largest ears of the most prolific stalks. In this way astonishing 
improvements in a variety may be gradually made. Thomas 
N". Baden, Esq., of Prince George County, Md., by carefully 
selecting the best seed in his field for a long series of years, 
having special reference to those stalks which produced the 
greatest number of ears, ultimately obtained a variety which 
yields from four to ten ears to the single stalk. 

In husking seed corn, leave a few of the husks upon the ears, 
with which to braid several of them together, for convenience 
in hanging them up. They should be hung in a dry, airy loft. 
In shelling, reject both extremities of the ear where the kernels 
are imperfect or misshapen. 

The expense per acre of cultivating corn varies greatly in 
different parts of the country, being influenced by soil, climate, 
cost of manure, price of labor, etc. For New York, Judge Buel 
estimates as follows : 

One plowing (suppose a clover lay) $2 00 

Harrowing and planting 2 00 

Two hoeings. 3 75 

Harvesting 3 00 

Kent of land 5 00 

Total *15 75 

This estimate does not include manure, which is generally 
essential, and would add from five to ten dollars to the expense. 
In New England the whole expense varies from twenty-five to 
fifty dollars. A farmer near Philadelphia estimates it at 
twenty-three dollars in his neighborhood ; another, at Ripley, 
Ohio, gives the following: 

" I subjoin my account with a corn-field of eighteen acres. 
The ground and the corn have been measured — there is no 
guess work about it. 



104 



The Faem, 



" Timber — originally walnut, ash, sngar maple, and beech — 
has been under cultivation twenty years — last year was in 
wheat, and the year before in corn. The soil dark — ten inches 
deep, with a clay bottom— was broken up eight inches deep 
with a span of horses : 

Team and hand, 12-f days' breaking, $2 $25 50 

Cost of seed, lajing off, and planting 13 05 

80| days' work, harrowing, plowing, hoeing, etc., 87£ cents 26 90 

Use of team, equal to 26f days single, 52 cents 13 91 

Repairing tools 1 00 

Entire cost, board, labor, and all $80 36 

" The yield is 1,350 bushels, costing before gathering not quite 
six cents per bushel."* 

Here no manure is used, we presume, and the soil requires 
less cultivation than at the East, in order to produce good crops. 
The expense per acre, exclusive of harvesting, according to 
this estimate, is less than $4 50. 

But, leaving these estimates out of the 
account, the fact that corn is generally 
one of the most profitable crops that a 
farmer can cultivate, may be set down 
as an established fact. 

2. "Wheat — Triticum of species. 

The origin of wheat is unknown; 

but it is certain that it was cultivated 

upward of a thousand years before the 

Christian era, and that more than one 

sort was known at that time, for it is 

stated in the book of Ezekiel (xxvii. 7) 

that " Judah traded in wheat of Min- 

nith." Columella, who wrote about the 

time of Christ, observes that, " The chief and the most profitable 

corns for men are common wheat and bearded wheat." 

Botanists describe about thirty species of wheat, and some 




HEADS OF WHEAT. 



* " W. G. A.*' in Country Gentleman 



Farm Crops. 105 

hundreds of varieties. The species mainly cultivated in the 
United States are the Winter Wheat and the Spring Wheat, in 
their numerous varieties. 

In your choice of varieties it is best to be governed, as in 
the case of Indian corn, by the experience either of yourself or 
others. From the ever-varying character of the various kinds 
of seed, their superiority at one time and locality, and their 
inferiority at other times and in other situations, it would be 
worse than useless for us to recommend any particular variety. 
Depend upon known and tried sorts till, by experiments on a 
small scale, you are satisfied that you have obtained something 
better. 

Wheat thrives best on a strong, clayey loam, but many light 
and all calcareous soils, if in a proper condition, will give a 
good yield. A glance at the table on page 28 will show that 
potash, lime, and phosphoric acid enter largely into the compo- 
sition of the grain, and that both lime and silica abound in the 
straw ; for this reason, rich vegetable soils generally, being de- 
ficient in these elements, are not well adapted to wheat. On 
such soils there is always a tendency to rapid growth, large but 
weak straw, and light grain ; and a liability both to lodge and 
to rust. A remedy, however, may be found in the applica- 
tion of ashes, lime, bone-dust, etc. The soil should be deep 
and well pulverized with the plow and the harrow. Under- 
draining and subsoil plowing add greatly to the amount of 
the crop. 

Select seed that is free from the seeds of weeds and from 
smut, if this be possible ; but, in any event, it is well, previous 
to sowing, to wash it in a strong brine made of salt and water, 
taking care to skim off all light and foreign seeds. If the 
grain be smutty, repeat the washing in another clean brine, 
when it may be taken out and intimately mixed with about one 
twelfth of its bulk of pulverized quicklime. 

The time for sowing in the Northern States is from the tenth 
to the twentieth of September, but it is often successfully sown 
both earlier and later. Sow broadcast, at the rate of from 

5* 



106 The Farm. 

three to five pecks to the acre, and harrow thoroughly. Soiling 
is beneficial, especially on light soils. 

" Wheat is subject to the attack of the Hessian fly, if sown 
coo early in the fall, and again the ensuing spring, there being 
two annual swarms of the fly, early in May and September. 
"When thus invaded, harrowing or rolling, by which the mag- 
gots or flies are displaced or driven off, is the only remedy of 
much avail. Occasionally, other flies, and sometimes wheat 
worms, commit great depredation. There is no effectual rem- 
edy known against any of these marauders, beyond rolling, 
brushing, and harrowing." 

Smut is a parasitic fungus, of a brown or blackish color, 
which grows upon the head and destroys the grain. We have 
indicated the only remedy with which we are acquainted, in 
speaking of the preparation of the seed. 

" The grain should be cut immediately after the lowest part 
of the stalk becomes yellow, while the grain is yet in tho 
dough state, and easily compressible between the thumb and 
finger. Repeated experiments have demonstrated that wheat 
cut at this time will yield more in measure, of heavier 
weight, and a larger quantity of sweet, white flour. If early 
cut, a longer time is required for curing before storing or 
threshing." 

Spring wheat should be sown so early as the ground will 
admit. The best crops are raised on land that has been 
plowed the previous fall, and sown without additional plowing, 
but harrowed-in thoroughly. 

Propagation may be extended with incredible rapidity by 
dividing the plant. The English Philosophical Transactions 
give the result of a trial, made by planting a single grain on the 
2d of June. " On the 8th of August it was taken up and sepa- 
rated into eighteen parts, and each planted by itself. These 
were subdivided and planted, between 15th of September and 
15th of October, and again the following spring. From this 
careful attention, in a fertile soil, 500 plants were obtained, some 
containing 100 stalks bearing heads of a large size; and the 



Farm Crops 



10? 



total produce "within the year was 386,840 grains from the single 

one planted." 

3. Rye — Secede Cereale. 

This plant is supposed to be a native of the Caspian Cauca- 
sian desert. It is more hardy than wheat, and "will flourish on 
soils too poor or too destitute of lime for wheat. It has taken 
the place of wheat in many portions of the 
country, where repeated crops of the latter have 
exhausted the soil of some of the requisite ele- 
ments for its growth. The best soil for it is a 
rich, sandy loam, but it grows freely on the 
lightest sandy and gravelly soils that are capable 
of sustaining any kind of vegetation. The di- 
rections for the preparation of soil and seed, and 
for cultivation, harvesting, etc., are the same as 
for wheat; but it is sometimes sown among 
standing corn and hoed in, the ground being left 
as level as possible. So soon as the corn is ma- 
tured, it is cut up by the roots and removed to 
the sides of the field, when the ground is thor- 
oughly rolled. 

"Winter rye and spring rye are varieties of the 
same species, and may readily be transformed 
into each other. Sow from five pecks to two 
bushels to the acre, according to the quality of the soil, the 
richest lands demanding most. "Winter rye may be sown from 
the 20th of August to the 20th of September, and spring rye 
so soon as the state of the soil will permit in the spring. 

Rye, when ground and unbolted, is much used in New England 
to mix with Indian corn meal, for bread-making. The corn 
meal is scalded, and the loaves baked for a long time. The 
product is known as " rye-and-Indian bread," and is much es- 
teemed and very wholesome. There is a peculiar aroma and 
flavor connected with the husk of the grain, which is lost in 
the bolted flour. Dr. Thaer, the distinguished German physi- 
gia.n and agricultural writer, sajs that "this substance has a 




EAR OF BYE. 



108 



The Farm, 



singularly strengthening, refreshing, and beneficial effect on the 
animal frame." 

4. The Oat — Avena Sativa. 

This grain will grow on any soil and in almost any climate. 
It is affected less by disease, and has fewer insect enemies than 
most of the cereals. The wire worm, 
however, occasionally proves destruc- 
tive to it, when sown on fresh sod. 
The remedy in this case is to turn 
over the sod late in the fall, just be- 
fore the severe winter frosts. 

There are many varieties and sub- 
varieties of the oat. Loudon describes 
the following : 

"The White or Common Oat is in 
mos,t general cultivation in England 
and Scotland, and is known by its 
white husk and kernel. 

" The Black Oat, known by its black HEAD of the oat. 

husk, and cultivated on poor soils in the north of England and 
Scotland. 

" The Red Oat, known by its brownish-red husk, thinner and 
more flexible stem, and firmly-attached grains. It is early, 
suffers little from winds, meals well, and suits windy situations 
and a late climate. 

" The Poland Oat, known by its thick, white husk, awnless 
chaff, solitary grains, short, white kernel, and short, stiff straw. 
It requires a dry, warm soil, but is very prolific. 

"The Black Poland Oat is one of the best varieties; it some- 
times weighs 50 lbs. to the bushel. 

"The Friesland or Dutch oat has plump, thin-skinned, white 
grains, mostly double, and the large ones sometimes awned. 
It has longer straw than the Poland, but in other respects re- 
sembles it. 

"The Potato Oat has large, plump, rather thick-skinned. 




Farm Crops. 109 

white grains, double an^ treble, with longer straw than either 
of the two last. It is now almost the only kind raised in the 
north of England and south of Scotland, and brings a higher 
price in London than any other variety. 

" The Georgian Oat is a large-grained, remarkably profitable 
variety, and on rich soil, in good tilth, has produced more than 
any other variety. 

" The Siberian or Tartarian is by some conceded a distinct 
species. The grains are black or bsown, thin and small, and 
turned mostly to one side of the panicle, and the straw is coarse 
and reedy. It is little cultivated in England, but is found very 
suitable for poor soils and exposed situations. 

" The Winter Oat is sown at the rate of two bushels per acre 
in October, the plants are luxuriant and tiller well, and afford 
good winter and spring pasture for ewes and lambs, and when 
these are shut out, it affords an ample crop of grain in August." 

The heaviest oat cultivated in the United States is the Impe- 
rial ; and it is preferred by many to all others. It is bright and 
plump, and yields a large proportion of nutritive matter. It 
has proved very productive in the Northern and Middle States. 
But the variety most cultivated is the common "White Oat, 
which is hardy and a good bearer. 

The only oat that will mature with certainty in the Southern 
States is the Egyptian. It is sound, hardy, and moderately 
productive. It is sown in autumn. 

At the North, oats may be sown from the first of March till 
the last of May ; but the earliest sown usually yield the best 
crops. From two to four bushels to the acre are sown in this 
country ; but in England they sow from four to six. The land 
should be prepared by plowing and harrowing, after which the 
seed should be sown broadcast, and harrowed in. On most 
soils rolling is beneficial. 

Oats may be mowed or cut with the cradle or the sickle. 
They are fit to harvest when they begin to turn yellow. 

As an article of diet, the oat is not properly appreciated in 
this country, oatmeal being little eaten except by foieigners. 



110 



The Farm. 



In Ireland and Scotland it is a common article of diet. It 
would be well for us if it were so here. It is wholesome and 
strengthening. It is prepared by grinding the kiln-dried seeds, 
which have been previously deprived of their husks and outer 
skin. 

5. Baeley — Rordeum of species. 

In Europe this grain ranks next to wheat in importance ; but 
it is much less extensively 
cultivated in the United 
States. 

Professor Lowe enu- 
merates six species of 
barley, but two only are 
in general cultivation — 
the Two-Rowed and the 
Six-Rowed. In England, 
the latter is preferred for 
its superior hardiness and 
productiveness; but the 
former is more generally 
cultivated in this country, 
the Six-Rowed being, heads of bxbley. 

with us, more subject to the smut. 

Like rye, it may be made either a winter or a spring grain ; 
but in this country it is almost universally sowed in the spring. 
Sow so soon as the ground is sufficiently dry, on land plowed 
the previous fall. If sown on sod, it may be lightly plowed in, 
and afterward harrowed or rolled. Sow about two bushels to 
the acre, on soil of medium richness. If sown very early, a 
smaller quantity of seed will suffice. A loam of medium con- 
sistency, between light and heavy, is best for it. Barn-yard 
manures must never be applied directly to this grain. Steeping 
the seed twenty-four hours in a weak solution of saltpeter is 
beneficial. The roller is sometimes applied to the field, when 
the plants are two or three inches high, with great benefit. 

It is of great importance to harvest barley at the proper time, 




Farm Crops. 



Ill 



If cut too early, the kernels shrink very much, and if suffered 
to stand too long, the grain wastes at the slightest touch, the 
heads breaking off and falling to the ground. It is known to 
be ripe by the disappearance of the reddish cast from the ear, 
the drooping of the heads, and the yellowish color of the stalks. 
It may be stacked like wheat. 

Barley is very useful as an article of human food, but, like 
oats, is too much neglected in the United States, being used 
principally for malting and brewing. In the form of pearl 
barley, which is the small, round part of the kernel that 
remains after the skin and a part of the seed are ground off, it 
is excellent when cooked in the same way as rice — either simply 
boiled or in puddings. 

6. Kice — Oryza Sativa. 
Rice probably affords food for more human beings than any 
other plant. In China, and nearly the 
whole length of the southern part of 
Asia ; throughout the innumerable and 
densely populated islands of the Pacific 
and Indian oceans ; in the southern part 
of Europe, and a large extent of Africa ; 
and through no inconsiderable portion 
of North and South America and the 
West Indies, it is extensively grown, and 
forms the staple food of the inhabitants. 
The varieties of rice most grown in 
South Carolina and Georgia, which have 
hitherto been the greatest rice-producing 
States of the Union, are the Gold-seed 
rice, the Guinea, the Common White, 
and the White-bearded. There are sev- 
eral other varieties, but generally infe- 
rior to the foregoing. The best are 
produced by careful cultivation on soils 
•uited to this grain, and by a careful selection of seed. 




HEAD OF KICK. 



112 The Farm. 

The method of cultivation pursued on the rice lands of the 
lower Mississippi, as detailed by Dr. Cartwright, a practical 
planter, is as follows : 

" The seed is sown broadcast about as thick as wheat, and 
harro wed-in with a light harrow, having many teeth; the 
ground being first well plowed and prepared by ditches and 
embankments for inundation. It is generally sown in March, 
and immediately after sowing, the water is let on, so as barely 
to overflow the ground. The water is withdrawn on the sec- 
ond, third, or fourth day, or as soon as the grain begins to 
'swell. The rice very soon after comes up and grows finely. 
When it has attained about three inches in height, the water is 
again let on, the top leaves being left a little above the water. 
Complete immersion would kill the plant. A fortnight pre- 
vious to harvest the water is drawn off to give the stalks 
strength, and to dry the ground for the convenience of the 
reapers. 

" The same measure of ground will yield three times as much 
rice as wheat. The only labor after sowing is to see that the 
rice is properly irrigated; except in some localities, where 
aquatic plants prove troublesome, the water effectually destroy- 
ing all others. The rice grounds of the lower Mississippi pro- 
duce about seventy-five dollars' worth of rice per acre. The 
variety called the Creole white rice is considered to be the best. 1 '* 

Upland rice is cultivated entirely with the plow and harrow, 
and grows well on the pine barrens. A kind of shovel plow, 
drawn by one horse, is driven through the unbroken pine for- 
est, not a tree being cut or belted, and no grubbing being neces- 
sary, as there is little or no undergrowth. The plow makes a 
shallow furrow about an inch or two deep, the furrows about 
three feet apart. The rice is dropped into them and covered 
with a harrow. The middles, or spaces between the furrows, 
are not broken up until the rice attains several inches in height. 
One or two plowings suffice in the piney woods for its cultiv* 



* The " American Farm Book." 



Farm Ceops. 



113 



tion — weeds and grass, owing to the nature of the soil, not 
being troublesome. 

Rice prepared according to the following recipe makes a dish 
which we prefer to the richest rice pudding, and which is cer- 
tainly far more wholesome : 

Slowly simmer the rice in milk three or four hours, or til 
the grains burst and absorb the milk ; add a little sugar ; put 
the whole into a wide dish, and bake till slightly brown. Eat 
with milk or butter. 



7. Buckwheat — Polygonum Fagopyrum. 

Buckwheat is extensively cultivated in the United States ; as 

it affords a flour which is 
much esteemed as an article 
of food. It will grow with 
considerable luxuriance on 
the poorest land. It comes 
to maturity so quickly that it 
is frequently sowed upon 
ground from which wheat or 
some other crop has been 
taken. "When intended for 
seed it should be sown suffi- 
ciently early to allow the 
kernel to become perfectly 
ripe — say from the middle of 
June to the first of July. In 
New York it is often sown 
in August with winter wheat, 
affording a ripe crop in the 
fall, without injury to the 
wheat, except so far as it may exhaust the soil. It is sown 
broadcast, at the rate of from a bushel to a bushel and a half 
per acre. In harvesting it is usually mowed with a scythe, and 
made into small stacks. 

Buckwheat is often used for plowing under as a green manure. 




BUCKWHEAT PLANT. 



114 The Fabm. 

This can be done where the land is too poor to produce clover 
for that purpose. When in flower, it should be first rolled, and 
then plowed in. 

8. Millet — Panicum of species. 

The species generally cultivated for the seed is the P. milUa- 
ceum. As a forage crop, the German millet (P. Germanicum) 
is preferable, and is coming into extensive use, especially at the 
West. The common species is sown, either broadcast or in 
drills, from the first of May to the first of July. If for hay, it 
is best sown broadcast about five pecks to the acre. In drills, 
which is the best way when cultivated for the grain, eight 
quarts will suffice. 

Of the German millet or Hungarian grass we shall have more 
to say, under the head of the grasses. 

II.-HOW TO SHOCK GRAIN. 

Many a valuable harvest may be preserved from ruin by 
taking heed to the following hints from a practical farmer. 
They are from that excellent paper, the Ohio Farmer. The 
readers of this little manual shall have no excuse for the too 
common awkward and inefficient modes of shocking grain. 
Here are our sensible farmer's rules : 

" 1. Grain should be firmly bound in smaller sheaves than it 
is almost universally found. Loosely bound sheaves can not be 
well shocked. They also admit more rain than tightly bound 
ones. 

"2. Two men can shock better and more advantageously 
than one. 

" 3. Let the shocker always take two sheaves at a time, hold- 
ing them with his elbow against his side, bringing the heads 
together with hands well spread upon them. Lift them as high 
as possible, bringing them with force, in as nearly a perpen- 
dicular position as can be, to the ground. Never make the 
second thrust, if the sheaves stand erect, for every one after 
the first, by breaking the butts, makes the matter worse. 



Fakm Crops. 115 

" 4. Then let two persons bring down two sheaves each at the 
tame time, as before described, being extremely careful to keep 
them perpendicular. The form of shock at this * * * 
period may be represented thus : * * * 

"5. As lastly stated, two more each, thus: * * 
The reader will perceive we now have ten sheaves, * * 

forming a circle as nearly as can be. * * 

u 6. While one man presses the head of the * * 
shock firmly together, let the other break, not bend, the two 
cap sheaves, and place them on, well spreading heads and butts. 

"The main points are, to have grain well bound, sheaves 
made to stand in an erect position, and then to put cap sheaves 
on firmly, and every gust of wind will not demolish your work. 

" Grain is usually shocked in this manner : One sheaf is made 
to stand alone, another is leaned against it, and another, some- 
times at an angle of forty-five degrees, ' to make them stand 
up,' until a sufficient number is thought to be leaned up. 

" Now the probability is, that there is but one sheaf in the 
whole shock that has its center of gravity within its base ; as a 
matter of course, each depends on some other to hold it up 
Consequently they twist ; and if the shock does not fall down 
before the hands get the next one up, it most certainly will 
during the first rain, just when the perpendicular position is most 
necessary." 

III.— THE LEGUMES. 

1. The Kidney Bean — Phaseolus Vulgaris. 

The bush or dwarf kidney bean is frequently cultivated as a 
field crop. There are many sorts that may be profitably used 
for this purpose, but the Small White is generally preferred, as 
it is very prolific, quite hardy, will grow in light, poor soil, and 
is more delicately flavored than the colored varieties. The 
Long White garden bean is also good. See " The Garden" for 
\ list of the best varieties for horticultural purposes. 

The bean succeeds best on a light, warm, and moderately 
fertile soil. A strong soil, or too much manure, induces a 



116 The Farm. 

tendency to run to vine, without a corresponding quantity of 
fruit. 

Plant either in hills or in drills. If you have a sower, or 
drill for putting them in, the latter is the best mode. The drills 
may be from two to three feet apart, the hills from eighteen 
inches to two feet each way. From five to eight plants are 
enough for a hill. They must be kept clear from weeds by the 
use of the hoe or cultivator ; but should be earthed up very 
slightly, if at all. The first of June is sufficiently early to plant 
them. They are sometimes planted with corn, putting three or 
four beans in each hill. This may be done either at the time 
of planting the corn, or at the first hoeing. 

The best mode of harvesting beans with which we are ac- 
quainted is thus described by a correspondent of the Country 
Gentleman : 

u Place a small pole or stick a foot in the ground, and five or 
six above ground ; around this stick lay some stones, say from 
four to six inches high, and from twenty to thirty inches in 
diameter ; then place your beans, with the stems against the 
pole, allowing the roots to be on the opposite side ; your next 
handful you lay with the top on those last laid roots, and the 
roots of this on the pod and leaves, and so on to the top, form- 
ing, as you proceed, a sugar-loaf, keeping it round, or as you 
would build a stack, tying the top with a straw band. Thus 
you throw the water all to the outside, the beans being so com- 
pact as not to admit water. You can by this means allow them 
to remain in the field until you are ready to thresh them in 
November or December, the stones at bottom keeping them 
dry. In carting to the barn I loosen the pole by shaking, nd 
take hold bottom and top, and throw pole and beans into the 
wagon ; by doing so you do not shell the beans." 

As an article of food, the bean has been undervalued. It is, 
when properly cooked, very palatable and exceedingly nutri- 
tious. It abounds in legumin, which is analogous to casein, the 
animal principle in milk, and is essentially the same as the 
fibrin of lean meat. 



Farm Crops. 117 

Sheep are very fond of beans, and the straw or haulm inakea 
an excellent fodder for them. No other animal, we believe, 
will eat beans raw ; but cattle, hogs, and poultry thrive on them 
when cooked. 

2. The Pea — Pisum Sativum. 

The Marrowfat and Small Yellow peas are the sorts generally 
used for field culture. The Marrowfat is the richer and better 
pea, and is to be preferred for good soils. The Small Yellow 
thrives on poorer soils, and is therefore, in some cases, more 
profitably cultivated. In some parts of the South a very prolific 
bush pea is cultivated and much esteemed for the table, both 
green and dry. 

Prepare the ground as for any other spring crop, by plowing 
and harrowing, and sow broadcast, at the rate of two or two 
and a half bushels to the acre. Cover them with the harrow 
or the cultivator, the latter implement being preferable, and 
smooth the ground by the use of the roller. 

In harvesting the pea, some farmers hook them up with a 
scythe, and some rake them up by hand with the common 
rake ; but the most expeditious and best way, by far, is to use 
the horse-rake in gathering this crop. 

Peas are easily threshed and prepared for market, and may 
be made a very profitable crop ; from thirty to forty bushels 
per acre being not an uncommon yield. As an article of food, 
they are excellent "both for man and beast." 

The great enemy of the pea is the pea- weevil or pea-bug, 
which is too well known to require description. It deposits its 
egg in the growing pea, by piercing the tender pod. As a 
remedy, some recommend keeping the seed in tight vessels over 
one year. This plan, if universally adopted, would probably 
lead to the total extermination of this destructive insect ; but 
as this is not likely to be the case, the only practicable way to 
avoid its ravages is by late sowing. It has been ascertained 
that it is limited to a certain period for depositing its eggs; 
peas, therefore, which are planted sufficiently late in the season 



118 The Faem. 

to postpone their seeding beyond this period, are not injured. 
The time for planting to avoid the bug ranges, in different lati- 
tudes where experiments have been made, from May 20th to 
JunelOtl. 

The Chinese Prolific pea and the Japan pea are new sorts, 
which seem to promise valuable additions to our leguminous 
crops. 

The plant called Cow-pea or Indian pea, and sometimes Stock 
pea, is extensively cultivated in some of the Southern States, 
both as a forage crop and a fertilizer. It is sown broadcast, in 
drills, or hoed in among Indian corn, when the latter is laid by 
for the season. When intended for cattle, it is harvested before 
the seed is fully ripe. It may be harvested in the same way as 
the common pea. 

3. TnE Pea-Not — Arachis Hypogcea. 

This is a legume bearing its pods under the surface of the 
ground. It was originally brought from Africa. 

A North Carolina planter thus describes the mode of cultiva- 
tion : " So soon as the frost is out of the ground, the land is 
broken up, and about the middle of April laid off with the plow 
thirty -three inches each way; two or three peas are then 
dropped in the crosses thus made. The plants are kept clean 
with hoes and plows until the vines cover the ground ; but no 
dirt is put on the vines. In October they are dug with a rake 
or plow. Hogs are then turned into the field, and they soon 
fatten upon the peas left upon the ground. When the vines are 
left upon the land for the hogs to feed upon, there is no crop 
that improves the land so much. 

IV.— ESCULENT EOOTS. 

1. The Potato — Solanum Tuberosum. 

This most valuable of all the esculent roots is a native of the 
American continent, and is now found in a wild state in parts 
of South America. It was probably introduced into southern 



Farm Crops. 119 

Europe by the Spanish adventurers, and into England by Sir 
Walter Raleigh. In this country it has been cultivated from 
the first settlement; but until a comparatively recent period 
only to a limited extent. 

In reference to the choice of varieties for planting, the best 
advice we can give will be simply a repetition of our recom- 
mendations in respect to several other plants : Choose such as 
have been well tested by yourself or others, and found adapted 
to the soil and purposes for which they are to be cultivated. 
Try your experiments with new sorts, on a small scale, and 
with close observation of the results. Experiment also, if lei- 
sure serve, in the production of new varieties from the seeds 
found in the balls. See directions in " The Garden." 

A fair crop of potatoes may be produced on almost any soil, 
properly manured and prepared and well cultivated, but a rich 
loam, of medium humidity, is best. If fresh or unfermented 
manures be used, they should be spread on the land, and plowed 
under, and not scattered in the drills or hills, as they are apt to 
injure the flavor of the potatoes. Lime, crushed bones, gypsum, 
salt, and ashes are excellent special manures for the potato. 
The soil should be made loose and mellow before planting. 

In reference to seed, planting, and cultivation, opinions and 
practices differ widely. We have not room to discuss the va- 
rious points in controversy between different scientific and 
practical agriculturists. All that our plan will permit is to give 
our own mode of cultivation, leaving our readers to try it in 
connection with other methods, and adopt the best. 

We choose for seed good, well ripened, medium-sized pota- 
toes, such as we would select for the table. These we should 
prefer to plant whole, but, seed being scarce and dear, we think 
it economical to cut each into two or four pieces, according to 
the size. We cut them three or four days, at least, before they 
are wanted for planting, roll them in plaster of Paris, and 
spread them on the floor in an airy loft to dry. 

We plant in drills from two and a half to three and a half 
feet apart, according to the strength of the soil and the sort of 



120 The Farm. 

potatoes planted, some varieties producing much larger tops 
than others. On some soils we should plant in hills, for conve- 
nience of cultivation with the plow and cultivator, but on light 
and loamy soils tolerably free from weeds and unobstructed by 
stones, we prefer the drills. We drop our sets from six to nine 
inches apart in the drills, and cover to a depth of three or four 
inches. 

When the shoots have fairly made their appearance above 
ground, we run a plow between the rows, throwing the earth 
well to the plants, and following with a hoe, if necessary. This 
plowing, or plowing and hoeing, are repeated once or twice 
before the blossoms appear, but not afterward. 

The harvesting is commenced so soon as the tops are mostly 
dead. We allow only sufficient exposure to the sun to dry the 
tubers, and then store them at once in bins or barrels, where 
they will be secure against frost, covering them with straw or 
dry sand, to prevent the circulation of air. 

For an early crop we plant only the seed ends, but for the . 
earliest possible crop we should proceed as follows : 

Select medium-sized or large tubers early in February, and 
prepare them by carefully cutting out all the eyes, except the 
crow-eye or eyes (for there are sometimes two of them), and 
then place them in a layer, on some dry sand, in a shallow box, 
and cover them with sand, chaff, or straw, and keep them in a 
warm room, where light can be freely admitted. When the 
shoots appear, they must be exposed to the light as much as 
possible, by partially removing the covering during the day, 
but keeping them carefully covered at night, when there is any 
danger from cold. The leaves soon become green and tolerably 
hardy. Early in March they may be planted out in a warm 
southern exposure, covering them so as to just expose the leaves 
above ground. Give them a covering of straw or litter at night, 
whenever there is danger from frost. By this means you may 
have potatoes fit for the table two or three weeks earlier than 
by planting in the ordinary way. A modification of this plan 
is to forward the sets prepared, as before, on a heap of fer- 



Farm Crops. 121 

meriting manure, in some warm exposure in the open air, cov- 
ering them well at night when the weather is cold. 

In " The Garden" (page 76) we have given .a description of 
the method pursued, by Mr. Peabody, of Georgia, for raising 
potatoes under straw. "We are convinced that his plan is a 
good one for the South, and. late experiments seem to prove 
that it works well at the North also. A correspondent of the 
Ohio Valley Farmer, for instance, says : 

" Having a quantity of wheat straw near a piece of ground I 
was planting with potatoes, I concluded to try the straw-cover- 
ing process. The soil, if I may so call it, was hard yellow 
clay. On the surface, and withotit any preparation of the 
ground, I distributed my potatoes, covering them some six or 
eight inches with straw, and did nothing more to them. They 
grew finely, and in the fall I took hold of the tops and "drawed" 
my crop. I found the tubers of a good size, and nice, bright, 
and clean enough for the boiler! and the yield much greater 
than of those planted in sod ground in the usual way." 

Another correspondent of the same paper makes the follow- 
ing strong statement : 

" We have the three last years planted our potatoes under 
straw, and have got more than double the quantity, on the 
same ground, with less work in planting and gathering. Our 
plan is to prepare the ground as thoroughly as possible, then 
mark it out with the plow, as close as we can ; drop the pota- 
toes six inches apart in same, cover as lightly as possible with 
the soil, then take the wagon containing the straw, and spread 
lightly to cover the ground. In this manner the work is done 
till harvest-time. We then take the potato-hook, and rake the 
straw into winrows, and our crop is nearly all in sight, ready 
to be gathered." 

We have not ourself sufficiently tested this mode of planting, 
to speak with confidence from our own experience. Let our 
thousands of readers try it, and report through the papers! 

" Of the potato disease or rot," as we have remarked in "The 
Garden," "little can profitably be here said. Its cause and 

G 



122 The Farm. 

remedy have yet to be made known. As preventives, a dry, 
or an underdrained soil; the use of lime, salt, and ashes; the 
absence of fresh stable manure; early planting; and new, 
healthy varieties, may be confidently recommended. 1 ' Thorough 
underdraining alone is, we believe, generally effective in pre- 
venting the disease. 

2. The Sweet Potato — Convolvulus Batatas. 

This is the potato of the South, and is much cultivated in the 
Middle and Western States. In its perfection, as it grows in 
South Carolina and the other extreme Southern States, it is the 
best of all the esculent roots. 

The varieties most cultivated are the Small Spanish, long, 
purplish color, grows in clusters, very productive, and of good 
quality ; Brimstone, sulphur-colored, long, large, and excellent ; 
Red Bermuda, the best early potato ; Common Yam, root ob- 
long and large, the best keeper, and very productive. 

A dry, loamy soil, inclining to sand, is best for the sweet po- 
tato. The manure should be plowed in, and the ground well 
pulverized. A top-dressing of wood ashes is very beneficial. 

The Spanish varieties are generally planted where they are 
to remain, either whole or cut up into sets. But these may, 
and the yams must be, propagated by slips, as they grow larger 
and yield more abundantly. 

To raise slips, select a sunny spot, sheltered by fences or 
buildings, and lay it off in beds four feet wide, with alleys of 
the same width between them. Slope the beds a little toward 
the sun, and add plenty of well-rotted manure, if the soil be 
not already rich. Do this in February or early in March. 
Choose large, smooth, healthy -looking potatoes, and lay them 
regularly over the bed, an inch or two apart, and cover them 
with three or four inches of soil from the alleys. It requires 
ten bushels of potatoes, thus bedded, for an acre of ground. 

Lay off your ground in low, horizontal ridges or beds, the 
crowns of which should be three feet apart, and about six 
inches high, on which, when the slips are ready, which will be 



Farm Crops. 123 

about the middle of April, plant them out eighteen inches 
apart,' one plant in a place, choosing a wet or cloudy day for 
the operation. Draw the slips when from three to four inches 
high, by placing the left hand on the bed, near the sprout, to 
steady the root and prevent it from being pulled up with the 
sprout. This is loosened with the right hand from the parent, 
tuber, which will continue, if undisturbed, to produce a suc- 
cession of slij s till the first of July. Stir the soil frequently, 
keeping the weeds well subdued. Be careful not to cover the 
vines, but if they become attached to the soil, loosen them from 
it, so that the whole vigor of the plant may go to the forma- 
tion of tubers. Make the hills large and flat. "When they have 
been laid by, it is a good plan to fill up the spaces between the 
rows with litter, when the ground is wet, to retain the moisture. 

So soon as the tops are dead or touched by the frost, the 
*rop should be gathered. 

Sweet potatoes are difficult to keep. The following is Mr. 
Peabody's plan: 

"Let the small heaps dry during the day. In handling 
them, take care not to bruise or injure the skin, as the least 
bruise produces rapid decay. Put them up in hills containing 
thirty or forty bushels each. Make a circular trench as large 
as the hill you wish to make. Elevate the e,arth surrounded by 
it six inches, or at least sufficiently to prevent the access of 
moisture. Cover this with straw, and heap the potatoes upon 
it in a regular cone. If the weather be good, cover them only 
with pine or other straw for two or three days, that the pota- 
toes may be well dried before earthing up. The covering of 
straw should be three or four inches thick. Cover this with 
strips of pine bark, commencing at the base, and covering as in 
shingling, leaving a small aperture at the top for the escape of 
the heat and moisture generated within. Cover this, except 
the aperture, with earth, to the thickness of four or five inches. 
Some cover the opening in the top with a piece of pine bark, 
to keep out the rain, but a board shelter for the whole heap^ is 
preferable. In the spring take up the potatoes, rub off the 



124 The Farm. 

sprouts, and keep them on a dry floor. If put up with care, 
they will keep till July."* 

Baked, or roasted in hot ashes, the sweet potato is one of the 
most delicious and nutritive of all vegetables. They are also 
used for pies and puddings, and sweet-potato rolls are excellent. 

3. The Turnip — Brassica Repa. 

In England the turnip crop is one of the most extensive and 
important in the whole compass of agricultural production. 
Fields of hundreds of acres are sometimes seen, and inclosures 
of fifteen or twenty are common. Here they are cultivated to 
a more limited extent, differences of opinion existing in refer- 
ence to the profit of their cultivation as a crop for feeding stock. 

"In the corn-growing regions of the fertile West, from the 
facility with which Indian corn can be grown, and the low 
price of it in many sections of the country, and its nutritive 
value over that of roots is such, that it is doubtless more profit- 
able growing corn than roots for feeding purposes. But in the 
Northern States, where corn is usually worth from 80 cents to 
$1 per bushel, we believe farmers would generally find it for 
their interest to grow a certain amount of roots, proportioned 
to the number of cattle and other stock they winter. Aside 
from the actual amount of nutritive food that roots afford, we 
think, there can be no doubt that the winter condition of our 
farm stock would be greatly improved by a daily feed of succu- 
lent food, even if it were but four quarts per day to each animal, 
with their dry hay and straw ; but with a larger allowance of 
roots, cattle can be kept in good condition through our long 
winters on hay of poor quality, or on straw, and so they can in 
freely feeding Indian meal or oil cake ; but in sections of the 
country where corn is worth one dollar per bushel, and oil cake 
in a similar ratio, it is presumed roots would be found the 
cheapest.' 1 ! 

The varieties of the turnip are numerous. The flat English 

* White's "Gardening for the South." t Country Gentleman. 



Farm Crops. 125 

turnip has been longest in cultivation, and still holds its place 
among most farmers as a field crop. It thrives best on new 
land and freshly turned sod, but will grow wherever Indian 
corn can be raised. 

The English turnip may be sown from the middle of June to 
the first of August, either broadcast or in drills. If sown 
broadcast, about two pounds of seed per acre will be required. 
The seed should be lightly harrowed or bushed in. Drilling it 
in with the seed sower and cultivating with the cultivator or 
hoe is the better way. The crop will be materially assisted by 
a top-dressing of lime, ashes, and plaster, at the rate of fifteen 
or twenty bushels of the first two, and from one and a half to 
three of the last. 

English turnips are often sowed among Indian corn at the 
last hoeing, producing, in many cases, a fair crop. 

The Ruta Baga or Swedes turnip is a far more valuable root 
than the English, but requires a little more attention in cultiva- 
tion. It will grow on a heavier soil, yield as good a crop, fur- 
nish a more nutritive root^ and keep longer. • 

"The Swedes turnip is generally sown in drills about two 
feet apart, and on heavy lands these should be slightly ridged. 
The plants must be successively thinned, to prevent interfering 
with such as are intended to mature, but enough should remain 
to provide for casualties. Where there is a deficiency, they 
may be supplied by transplanting during showery weather. 
They should be left six or eight inches apart in the drills. The 
Swede turnip is a gross feeder, and requires either a rich soil or 
heavy manuring ; though the use of fresh manures has been 
supposed to facilitate the multiplication of enemies. Bones, 
ground and drilled in with the seed, or a dressing of lime, ashes, 
gypsum, and salt, are the best applications that can be made. 
The Swede should be sown from the 20th May to the 15th 
June, and earlier than the English turnip, as it takes longer to 
mature; and two or three weeks more of growth frequently 
adds largely to the product. An early sowing, also, gives time 
to plant for another crop, in case of failure of the first. 



126 The Farm. 

" The turnip is exposed to numerous depredators, of which 
the turnip flea-beetle is the most inveterate. It attacks the 
plant so soon as the first leaves expand, and often destroys two 
or three successive sowings. When the fly or bug is discovered, 
the application of lime, ashes, or soot, or all combined, should 
be made upon the leaves, while the dew or a slight moisture is 
on them."* 

Harvesting should be deferred till the approach of severe 
frosts, and at the South the crop may remain in the ground till 
wanted in the winter. 

The Purple-Topped Swede, Skirving's Swede, and Ashcroft's 
Swede are approved varieties. 

4. Kohl Kabi — Brassica Oleracea. 

In England and Ireland, where the turnip has, in some places, 
shown signs of degeneracy, the Kohl Rabi has been proposed 
as a substitute, and has already come into somewhat extensive 
cultivation. It seems to possess all the good qualities of the 
turnip, with the addition of some excellences peculiar to itself. 
It has been proved to be perfectly hardy, to stand severe frosts 
better, and to keep in store for a longer period than the Swedish 
turnip. It also resists the attacks of the fly and grub. Its 
feeding qualities have beep fully tested, and all kinds of stock 
are exceedingly fond of it. When fed to milch cows it does 
not impart that turnip taste to the milk and butter, as is fre- 
quently the case when cows are freely fed with turnips. 

The average weight per statute acre has been from 27 to 31 
tons, of tops and bulbs. 

The seeds of the Green and Purple Topped varieties have 
been extensively distributed through the agency of the Patent 
Office, during the past two or three years. So far as we have 
learned, they have fallen short of the Swedes in productiveness 
or weight per acre. But in all cases that have come to our 
knowledge, the seed of the Kohl were sown at the time of 

* Allen. 



Farm Crops 127 

sowing the turnips. This is too late for sowing Rabi seed. 
The Irish Farmer's Gazette says : " The seed is sown in a well- 
prepared seed-bed ; about the end of February, in drills about 
a foot apart ; and in May they are transplanted in the field 
(when the plants are six or eight inches high), in rows about 
two feet asunder, and eighteen inches apart in the rows." 

5. The Carrot — Daucm Caroia. 

The carrot is looked upon with much favor as a field crop in 
some parts of the United States. It is preferred by many 
farmers to every other vegetable for feeding cattle, horses, and 
swine. A bushel of carrots cut and mixed with an equal quan- 
tity of oats is thought to be equivalent to two bushels of oats; 
and five or six hundred bushels may easily be raised on an acre 
of good land. Rev. Mr. Coleman, of Massachusetts, says that 
he has raised them at the rate of more than a thousand bushels 
to the acre. 

The varieties mostly used for field culture are the Altringham, 
the Orange, and the White Belgian. The last-named is very 
productive, and, growing high out of ground, is more easily 
harvested than the other sorts ; but, on the other hand, it is 
considered below the others in nutritive value. 

"It is very important to have both the soil and the manure 
for carrots free from the seeds of weeds and grasses ; the plants 
in the early stages of their growth are small and feeble, which 
makes it a slow and expensive process to eradicate the weeds, 
if abundant. Well manured sandy, or light, loamy soils are 
best adapted to the carrot crop. The ground should be deeply 
worked, and brought to a fine tilth before sowing the seed. 
For field crops, the drills should be eighteen inches distant; the 
plants in the rows should be thinned to six or eight inches 
apart. This ' thinning out' is a matter too frequently neglected. 
We have frequently seen carrots growing so thickly that they 
would average a dozen or more plants to the^bot ; when left 
to grow in this crowded manner, the roots must necessarily be 
small, and the expense of harvesting greatly increased." 



128 The Farm. 

6. The Paesnep — Pastinaca Satfoa. 

This root is nearly equal to the carrot in value, and large 
crops may be obtained on deep, rich, well-pulverized soil. The 
best variety for field culture is the Isle of Jersey. The cultiva- 
tion is similar to that of the carrot. The harvesting should be 
deferred till spring, unless the roots may be wanted for winter's 
use, as they keep best in the ground. 

The parsnep is one of the best of all our table vegetables, 
and is also excellent for cattle, sheep, and swine. The leaves 
of both parsneps and carrots are good for cattle, either green 
or dried. 

7. The Beet — Beta Vulgaris. 

The varieties most in use for field culture are the Sugar beet 
and the Mangold- Wurzel, of both of which there are several 
sub-varieties. « 

Beets do well in any soil of sufficient depth and fertility, but 
they are perhaps most partial to a strong loam. If well tilled, 
they will produce large crops on a tenacious clay. We have 
raised at the rate of 800 bushels per acre, on a stiff clay, which 
had been well supplied with unfermented manure. The soil 
can not be made too rich ; and for such as are adhesive, fresh 
or unfermented manures are much the best. 

The beet should be planted in drills from twenty to twenty- 
four inches apart, at the rate of six pounds of seed to the acre. 
Cover about an inch deep. The seed should be early planted, 
or as soon as vegetation will proceed rapidly ; but it must first 
be soaked by pouring soft, scalding water on it, allowing it to 
cool to blood-heat, and remain for three or four days, then roll 
in plaster and drill it in. The culture is similar to that of car- 
rots and parsneps. 

As an article of human food, the beet is a universal favorite. 
Domestic animals are very fond of it, and swine prefer it to 
any other root»except the parsnep; and on no vegetable can 
they be kept in a better condition. 



Farm Crops. 129 

8. Chinese Yam — Dioscorea Batatas. 

This root was introduced into France seven or eight years 
ago, and seems to have won a considerable degree of public 
estimation there. It has not had so long a period of trial here, 
but has been experimented with more or less in all parts of the 
United States, generally with ill or indifferent success. We can 
speak of it only as an object of experiment. 

The mode of culture required by the Chinese yam is not yet 
well determined. It evidently needs a deeply spaded or trenched 
soil, and probably should be cut into sets and planted in rows 
three or four feet apart, and one foot apart in the row, and 
treated like the sweet potato, except that it requires no earth- 
ing up. The plants may be forwarded in a hot bed or in a cold 
frame under glass. 

V.— THE GRASSES. 

The grasses cultivated for the food of animals are too nu- 
merous to admit of a description in such a work as this. It is 
said that no less than two hundred varieties are cultivated in 
England. In this country we make use of fewer sorts for cul- 
tivation ; but the number and excellence of our natural grasses 
are probably unsurpassed in any quarter of the globe. 

"We will speak briefly of a few of the leading species culti- 
vated among us, noting some of their peculiar excellences and 
adaptations. 

1. Timothy — Phleum Pratense. 

Allen says : " For cultivation in the northern portion of the 
United States, I am inclined to place the Timothy first in the 
list of the grasses. It is indigneous to this country, and flour- 
ishes in all soils except such as are wet, too light, dry, or sandy ; 
and it is found in perfection on the rich clays and clay loams 
which lie between 38° and 44° north latitude. It is a peren- 
nial, easy of cultivation, hardy and of luxuriant growth, and on 
Its favorite soil yields from one and a half to two tons of hay 
per acre at one cutting." 

It may be sown either in Aujrust or September with the 
0* 



130 The Fakm. 

winter grains, or in the spring. " Twelve quarts of seed pet 
acre on a fine mellow tilth are sufficient ; and twice this quan- 
tity on a stiff clay." This is the Herds grass of New England. 

2. The Smooth-Stalked Meadow Grass — Poa Pratensis. 

This is one of the best of grasses, both for hay and for pas- 
ture. It is a native species, and is found almost everywhere, 
but does not grow in its greatest perfection north of the valley 
of the Ohio. It is seen in all its glory on the fertile soils of 
Kentucky and Tennessee. Every animal that eats grass is fond 
of it. " The seed ripens in June, and is self-sown upon the 
ground where the succeeding rains give it vitality and it pushes 
out its long slender leaves two feet in length, which in autumn 
fall over in thick winrows, matting the whole surface with a 
luscious herbage." 

The Roughish Meadow grass (P. trivialis) has the appear- 
ance of the smooth variety, but is rough to the touch, and pre- 
fers moist situations and clayey soils. This, also, is an excel- 
lent grass. 

3. Red Top — Agrostis Vulgaris. 
A hardy and luxuriant species, much relished by cattle, but 
possessing only a moderate nutritive value. It is much culti- 
vated in some portions of New England and elsewhere ; but 
where better grasses will grow, this should be rejected. It is 
sometimes called Foul Meadow and Bent Grass. 

4. Tall Oat Grass — Avena Elatior. 
An early and luxuriant grass, flourishing in a loamy or 
clayey soil, and making good hay. It grows to the height of 
four or five feet on good soils. It is well suited to pasture. 

5. The Fescue Grasses — Festuca of species. 

The Tall Fescue grass (F. elatior), according to some experi- 
ments made in England, yields more nutritive matter per acre, 
when cut in flower, than any other grass cut either in flower or 



Farm Crops. 131 

seed. It is an American grass, but has found less favor at 
home than abroad. 

The Meadow Fescue (F. pratensis) ; the Spiked Fescue (F. 
loleacea) ; the Purple Fescue {F. rubra) ; and the Floating 
Fescue (F. fluitans),. are all indigenous grasses of fine qual- 
ities and great value. 

6. Oeohaed Geass — Dactylis Glomerata. 
The Orchard or Cock's Foot grass is excellent for shaded sit- 
uations. It should be cut before it is ripe, and will furnish 
three or four crops a year. Twenty or thirty pounds of the 
seed should be sown per acre. It will grow in almost any 
climate, being found in this country from the extreme north 
to the extreme south. 

7. The Egyptian Geass — Sorghum Ealpense. 

A cane-like grass which grows in profusion in some of the 
Southern States. It is a superior stock-sustaining plant ; but 
as it is difficult to remove when once embedded in the soil, its 
introduction into cultivated fields is considered a great evil. 

8. Geeman Millet — Panicum Germanicum. 

This plant, known at the West as Hungarian grass, seems to 
have been introduced into Iowa by a Hungarian immigrant, 
and to have spread thence to other parts of the country. It 
had, however, been previously cultivated in small quantities 
under its proper name of German Millet. As a forage crop, 
for the West, at least, its value seems to be well proved. It 
has been less extensively tested at the East. 

An Iowa farmer thus describes the mode of cultivation pur- 
sued in his vicinity : 

" We prepare the ground the same as for oats, and sow about 
eleven quarts to the acre when we want grass ; but if seed is 
the object, eight quarts to the acre. Good seed will weigh 
fifty pounds to the bushel. I will say in general terms that 
wherever a crop of Indian corn will grow, the IJungarian 






132 The Farm. 

grass will succeed. It loves warm weatlier, but it requires but 
about six weeks to mature. If cut green, it will put out an 
excellent second growth, making the richest kind of pasturage. 
I have seen, this season, one plant that stood rather isolated 
produce seventy shoots, and each shoot produce a head. It is 
a great thing to stool, or send out suckers ; so if you sow thin 
or thick, you are sure of a crop. It usually grows from three 
to four and a half feet high with us. The best time for sowing 
is about the 20th of May, or when the ground gets warm, on 
clean ground, harrowed both ways. 

" The usual yield of this grass with us is from four to six tons 
to the acre, according to the pains taken in its cultivation ; but 
the premium crop of this county, as returned to our last fall's 
fair, was eight tons and some two hundred pounds to the 
measured acre of good, dry hay, suitable to put in stack, tluly 
sworn to by disinterested parties, to the satisfaction of the 
committee, in order to receive the premium." 

9. The Clovees — Trifolium of species. 

According to botanical arrangement, the clovers belong 
among the legumes, and not among the grasses ; but we find it 
more convenient to speak of them in connection witli the other 
common forage plants. 

The Common Red clover (T. pratense) is a hardy and easily 
cultivated species, of which there are several varieties. It 
grows luxuriantly on every well-drained soil of sufficient 
strength to afford it nutriment. 

It may be sown broadcast either in August or September, or 
early in the spring, with most of the grains. Sow from ten to 
twelve pounds per acre on well-prepared loams, and from 
twelve to sixteen on clayey lands. It should be very slightly 
covered. A top-dressing of plaster, at the rate of three or four 
bushels to the acre, has a most beneficial and striking effect 
upon this plant. 

Clover should be cut after having fully blossomed and as- 
sumed a brownish hue. 



Farm Crops. 133 

Southern Clover (T. medium) is a smalltr species than 
the common Red, and matures earlier. It succeeds Letter 
on a light soil than the latter, and should be sown more 
thickly. 

The White or Creeping clover (T. repens), of which there are 
several varieties, is a self-propagating plant, and adds greatly 
to the richness of many of our pastures, especially on clayey 
soils. It is very nutritious, and cattle, sheep, and horses are all 
fond of it. 

10. Other Grasses. 

The Muskeet Grass, found growing on the plains of Mexico 
and Texas, is considered one of the best of the indigenous 
grasses. We have seen it growing on the plantations of Lou- 
feiana, where it has been successfully transplanted. 

Winter Grass is known on the low, moist fertile soils of ¥,s- 
sissippi and adjoining States. It springs up in the autumn, 
grows all winter, and seeds in the spring. It fattens all ani- 
mals that feed upon it. 

Grama (La Grama, or the grass of grasses) is held in the 
highest estimation by the Mexicans. It attains a medium 
height, and is deemed the most nutritious of the natural grasses 
in our southwestern frontier prairies, in California, and parts 
of Mexico. It grows on dry, hard, gravelly soils, on side hills, 
and on the swells of the prairies. 

The Prairie Grasses abound in the Western prairies, and are 
of great variety, according to the latitude and circumstances 
under which they are found. They afford large supplies of 
nutritive food, both as pasturage and hay. They possess differ- 
ent merits for stock, but as a general rule they are coarse when 
they have reached maturity, and are easily injured by the early 
frosts of autumn. Some of the leguminose or wild pea vines, 
which are frequently found among them, yield the richest 
herbage. We are not aware that any of these grasses have 
been cultivated with success. 

Dr. Darlington, of Pennsylvania, gives the following as tho 



134: The Farm. 

Bpecies of grasses most valuable in our meadows and pastures, 
naming them in the order of their excellence : 

1. Meadow or green grass {Poa pratensis). 2. Timothy 
{Phleum pratense). 3. Orchard grass {Dactylis glomerata). 
4. Meadow Fescue {Festuca pratensis). 5. Blue grass {Poa 
compressa). 6. Ray grass {Lolium perenne). 7. Red top 
{Agrostis vulgaris). 8. Sweet-scented vernal grass {Anthox- 
anthum odoratum).* 

VI.— MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS OF CULTIVATION. 

1. Cotton — Gossypium of species. 

As cotton is generally cultivated on large plantations, and 
does not strictly come under the head of farm crops, we shall 
content ourself with a few words only upon this grand object 
of culture and commerce. 

Cotton can not be profitably cultivated north of Tennessee. 
It requires a dry, rich loam to produce the largest and most 
profitable crops. 

" During the winter, the land intended for planting should 
be thrown up in beds by turning several furrows together. 
These beds may be four feet from center to center for a mod- 
erate quality of upland soil, and five feet for the lowlands. 
But these distances should be increased with the increasing 
strength of the soil, to seven and eight feet, and in some in- 
stances even to a greater distance for the strongest lands. 
These may lie until the time of planting, from 20th of March to 
20th of April, when no further danger from frost is apprehend- 
ed ; then harrow, and with a light plow mark the center of the 
beds, and sow at the rate of two to five bushels per acre. A 
drilling-machine might be made to answer this purpose better, 
and save much time. An excess of seed is necessary, to pro- 
vide for the enemies of the plant and other contingencies. If 
all the seed germinates, there will be a large surplus of plants, 
which must be removed by thinning. There is an advantage 

* Allen. 



Farm Crops. 135 

in mixing the seed, before it is sown, with moistened ashes or 
gypsum, as it facilitates sowing and germination. It should be 
buried about an inch deep, and the earth pressed closely over 
it," 

Harvesting is commenced when the bolls have begun to ex- 
pand and the cotton is protruded, and is continued as the bolls 
successively ripen and burst their capsules. 

2. The Sugar-Cane — Saccharum Officinarum. 
This is another plantation crop, and lies beyond the scope of 
this little book. It is indigenous both in the Old and the New 
World, but is restricted in its cultivation to a belt or zone ex- 
tending from 35° to 40° on each side of the equator. In the 
United States the cultivation can not be profitably carried on 
advantageously higher than about 32°. 

3. Chinese Sugar-Cane — Sorghum Saccharatum. 

Although the value of this plant as an object of general cul- 
tivation is not universally conceded, we think it may be safely 
set down as worthy the farmer's attention, both as a forage 
crop and for making syrup. Its habits and mode of cultivation 
are similar to those of Indian corn. It may be planted at the 
same time as corn, about three feet apart each way, and two 
or three plants in a hill ; or in drills three feet apart, and the 
plants, one in a place, two feet apart in the row. When the 
plants are from six inches to a foot high, turn over the earth 
on each side of the row with a plow and afterward keep the 
weeds down with the hoe. On good soil it will grow from six 
to twelve or fourteen feet high, furnishing a very heavy and 
nutritious crop of fodder ; and one hundred and seventy-five 
gallons of syrup, equal to the best molasses, and worth at least 
one dollar per gallon, have been made from an acre of the cane, 
and that with very imperfect apparatus. A correspondent of 
one of the agricultural journals, in closing a narrative of his 
experiments, says: 

" The result, therefore, of my experiments lead me to the con« 



136 The Farm. 

elusion that the accounts heretofore published, as to the value 
of the Chinese Sugar-Cane, are not exaggerated ; that it may be 
grown upon almost any ordinary soil, requiring no more atten- 
tion than is profitably bestowed upon a crop of Indian corn ; 
that as a soiling crop it is far superior both in quantity and 
quality to Indian corn, producing as a first crop more than can 
be obtained from any other plant in cultivation ; and after once 
cut, again producing a valuable crop ; and that a superior arti- 
cle of syrup can be produced at little cost or trouble." 

An African sorgho, called Imp7iee, has been experimented 
with both in Europe and America, in connection with the Chi- 
nese. It has the advantage of maturing earlier, but in refer- 
ence to its value as a sugar-producing plant, in comparison 
with the other, opinions, founded probably on imperfect ex- 
periments, differ widely. M. Velmarin, of Paris, who has 
experimented largely with the various saccharine plants, pro- 
nounces it greatly inferior. It has hardly had a fair trial yet 
in this country. 

4. Broom Corn — Sorghum Saccharatum. 

Broom corn requires similar soil to Indian corn. A green 
sward turned over late in the fall is best. Well-rotted horse or 
sheep manure and wood ashes may be liberally scattered in the 
drills or hills. A situation not subject to early or late frosts 
should be chosen. Clayey lands are not suitable. 

Plant so soon as danger from frosts will permit, in drills 
three feet apart ; or in hills from two to two and a half feet 
apart each way, from twelve to fifteen seeds in a hill, thinning 
out to ten plants at the first hoeing. The after-culture consists 
in frequent stirring of the soil with a light plow or cultivator, 
and keeping the crop clear of weeds with the hoe. 

" Break the tops before fully ripe, or when the seed is a lit- 
tle past the milk ; or if frost appears, then immediately after 
it. This is done by bending down the tops of two rows toward 
each other for the convenience of cutting afterward. They 
should be broken some fourteen inches below the brush, and 



Fakm Crops. 137 

allowed to hang till fully ripe, when they may be cut and car- 
ried under cover, and spread till entirely dry." 

5. Flax — Linum Usitatissimum. 

A deep, rich loam or alluvial soil is best for flax. The proper 
fertility should be secured by a surplus of manure applied to a 
previous crop, as fresh manures are injurious to it. It is sown 
broadcast, on well-prepared soil, at the rate of from sixteen to 
thirty quarts when wanted for seed, and two bushels when 
cultivated for the fiber. 

6. Hemp — Cannabis Sativa. 

This is a plant of the nettle tribe, and came originally from 
India. The Russians are at present its chief cultivators ; but 
in our Western States, and especially in Kentucky, it is begin- 
ning to be widely raised. 

A rich loam or a vegetable mold suits the hemp plant. The 
ground should be carefully prepared by plowing and harrow- 
ing till it is perfectly pulverized, smooth, and even. The seeds 
are sown broadcast at the rate of a bushel and a half to the 
acre, and plowed or harrowed in. Plowing is best on ground 
liable to bake. In Kentucky they sow any time from the first 
of April to the tenth of May. It is desirable to sow just before 
a rain. 

For a full description of the mode of cultivation, harvesting, 
and preparing hemp, as practiced in Kentucky, see the ''Amer- 
ican Farmer's Encyclopedia;" article "Hemp." 

7. The Hop — Humulus Lupulus. 

The hop is found growing spontaneously on the banks of 
rivers and brooks in various parts of this country. 

The best soil for the cultivation of hops is a sandy loam, 
rather low and moist ; but they will grow on soils very differ- 
ent from this. New lands are to be preferred. 

The following is the mode of cultivation recommended b;y 
Allen in the "American Farm Book:" 



13S The Farm. 

" If the land has been long in use, it should be dressed with 
a compost of alkaline manures; or, what is nearly equivalent, 
with fresh barn-yard manures, on a previously well-hoed crop, 
and made perfectly free from all weeds, and deeply plowed 
and harrowed. Then mark out the ground at intervals of six 
feet each way and plant in the intersection of the furrows, and 
unless the ground be already rich enough, place three or four 
shovels of compost in each hill. The planting is done with the 
new roots taken from the old hills, which are laid bare by the 
plow. Each root should be six or eight inches long, and must 
contain two or more eyes, one to form the root, and the other 
the vine. Six plants are put in a hill, all of which should be 
within the compass of about a foot, and covered to a depth of 
five inches, leaving the ground level when planted. The first 
season the intermediate spaces between the hills may be planted 
with corn or potatoes, and the ground carefully cleared of 
weeds, and frequently stirred. No poles are necessary the first 
year, as the product w T ill not repay the cost. The ground 
should receive a dressing of compost the following spring, and 
the plants be kept well hoed and clean. 

" Poles may be prepared at the rate of two or three to each 
hill, twenty to twenty-four feet long, and selected from a 
straight, smooth undergrowth of tough and durable wood, 
from four to seven inches diameter at the butt end. These are 
sharpened and firmly set with an iron bar, or socket bar with 
a wooden handle in such a position as will allow the fullest 
effect of the sun upon the hills or roots. When the plants 
have run to the length of three or four feet in the spring, train 
them around the poles, winding in the direction of the sun's 
course, and fasten below the second or third set of leaves, 
where there is sufficient strength of vine to sustain themselves. 
They may be confined with rushes, tough grass, or more easily 
with woolen yarn. This operation is needed again in a few 
days, to secure such as may have got loose by the winds 01 
other causes, and to train up the new shoots. 

"The gathering of hops takes place when they have acquired 



Farm Crops. 139 

a strong scent, at which time the seed becomes firm and 
brown, and the lowest leaves begin to change color. This pre- 
cedes the frosts in September. The vines must first be cut at 
the surface of the ground, and the poles pulled up and laid in 
convenient piles, when they may be stripped of the hops, 
which are thrown into large, light baskets ; or the poles may 
be laid on long, slender boxes with handles at each end (to ad- 
mit of being carried by two persons), and as the hops are 
stripped they fall into the box. Be careful to select them free 
from leaves, stems, and dirt. 

"After gathering in the fall, the hops should be hilled or 
covered with compost, and all the vines removed. The follow- 
ing spring, when the ground is dry, the surface is scraped from 
the hill, and additional compost is added, when a plow is run 
on four sides, as near as possible without injury to the plants. 
All the running roots are laid bare and cut with a sharp knife 
within two or three inches of the main root, and the latter are 
trimmed, if spreading too far. It is well to break or twist 
down the first shoots and allow those which succeed to run, 
as they are likely to be stronger and more productive. Cut- 
ting should be avoided, unless in a sunny day, as the profuse 
bleeding injures them. The poles will keep much longer, if 
laid away under cover till again wanted the following spring. 
Drying may be done by spreading the hops thinly in the shade 
and stirring them often enough to prevent heating ; but when 
there is a large quantity, they can be safely cured only in a 
kiln." 



140 



The Farm, 



IX. 

THE ORCHARD. 

There hang the red- cheeked apples, blushing In the Bun.— Fomue. 

L— "THE GARDEN.'' 








1ST a previous number of this series of man- 
uals ("The Garden") we have devoted a 
long chapter to the subject of fruits, giving 
instructions for planting, grafting, cultiva" 
tion, and gathering ; with lists of the best varieties, 
etc. As the larger portion of our readers will possess 
that volume also, it will not be profitable to go over 
same ground again here ; but some additional hints on sev- 
points not sufficiently dwelt upon in the work referred to 
be useful in this. 



II.— LAYING OUT ORCHAEDS. 

We copy from Tucker's "Annual Register of Rural Affairs," 
for 1857, the following useful directions for laying out orchards: 

We have often observed a good deal of inconvenience and 
perplexity in measuring off and laying out orchards, from a 
want of accuracy at the commencement. If the rows are begun 
crooked, stake after stake may be altered, without being able 
to form straight lines, and with only an increase of the confu- 
sion. If the first tree, in a row of fifty, be placed only six 



The Orchard. 141 

inches out of the way, and be followed as a guide for the rest, 
the last one will deviate fifty times six inches, or twenty-five 
feet from a right line, even if the first error is not repeated. 
We have seen large apple orchards with rows nearly as crooked 
as this. To say nothing of the deformed appearance to the eye, 
they proved exceedingly inconvenient every time the crooked 
space between the rows was plowed, and every time the ground 
was planted and cultivated with crops in rows. 

abcdefghi 



aficdefghi 
Fig. 1. — Common ok Sqttaee Abeangement. 

The most simple and convenient arrangements for orchards 
In all ordinary cases is in squares, as shown in fig. 1. But 
planters are often puzzled to know how to lay out such orchards, 
with trees at equal distances throughout, and in perfectly 
straight rows. The easiest and most successful mode is first to 
measure off one side along the boundary, with a chain or tape- 
line (a chain is best), and drive in a stake perpendicularly at 
equal distances (say two rods or 33 feet), in a straight line, and 
at a proper distance from the fence for the first row of trees. 
Then measure off each end in the same way ; and between the 
last two stakes in these end rows, form another line of stakes 
like the first, which will be parallel and opposite to it. The 
more accurately the measuring is done, the less labor will be 
required in rectifying small errors — no stake should stand half 
an inch out of a straight line. These rows are represented by 
the letters a, 5, c, d, e, f, g, h, i. Then measure off the distance 
between a and a, driving in a small stake or peg at each dis» 



142 The Farm. 

tance of two rods, and then in the same way between » \ t \ 
etc. If accurately done, these will all form perfectly sir? ; gM 
rows. The holes may then be dug without the least difficulty 
or embarrassment, and the trees set out. But a difficulty 
arises, as the stakes must be removed in digging the holes ; thi? 
is at once obviated by the plan here proposed, by placing the 
tree in a line with the row of stakes on one side, and with the 
newly-set trees on the other, as the holes are successively dug 
and the trees set. 

These directions may seem quite simple, but from want of 
being generally understood, a great many crooked lines of trees 
are seen through the country. 

The second mode of arranging trees is in the old quincunx 
form (fig 2), which is nothing more than a series of squares laic 
off diagonally, and has no special advantage to recommend if 
except novelty. 

****** 
******* 

******* 
* * * * * * 

******* 

****** 

Fig. 2.— Old Quincunx Order. 

The hexagonal or modern quincunx (fig. 3) possesses two im- 
portant advantages. One is its more picturesque appearance, 
********** 

********* 

******** ** 

********* 



********* 
Fig. 3. — Hexagonal ob Modern Quincunx. 

and its consequent fitness for proximity to ornamental planta- 
tions ; and the other is its greater economy of space, as the 



The Oechakd. 143 

trees are more evenly distributed over the ground. This is 
shown in fig. 4, where each tree stands in the center of a circle, 
surrounded at equal distances by six other trees, and each single 
circle leaves but little vacant space beyond it. If cultivated 
with horses, the furrows may be drawn in three different direc- 
tions, instead of only two, as in the square arrangement. 

One principal reason why the hexagonal mode is so little 
adopted, is the supposed difficulty in laying out the ground # 
But like many other apparent difficulties, it becomes very sim- 
ple and easy when once understood. 

To lay off a piece of ground for this purpose, measure off 
one side of the field at equal distances, as already described for 
squares, as at a, 5, c, d, e, fig. 4. These distances must be the 
distance apart at which the trees are to stand, because they 
form the sides of the equilateral triangles into which the whole 










/ 




a 




©:," 


'V. 





..,<&-. 


... 


i 






/"" i 


i 




■ 

• 
• 

. i 


b 


< 


i I 


»•» — . 




i y^ 


> 





< 


» 








> 




< 




j 




J .- 7 " 


y- m 


d 


©'' 


s"'' 




! 

Fig. 4. 


*\ 


"■0 


e 



ground becomes divided. The next thing is to find the dis- 
tances, a, f, g, for the line of trees at right angles to the first- 



144: The Farm. 

mentioned row. An arithmetician will easily determine this, 
for the triangle, J a/ being a right one, the square of & a 
(which is 83 feet) subtracted from the square of b f (which is 
66 feet) will leave the square of af, the root of which extracted 
will give the distances of/, f, g, etc., which is 57 feet and half 
an inch. Divide this and the opposite side of the field, there- 
fore, into distances of 57 feet and half an inch, and the side 
opposite the first, at 33 feet distances, and proceed to stake off 
all intermediate intersections, as described for squares. If the 
distances are less than 33 feet, as they would be for any other 
kind of fruit-trees, a corresponding proportion is of course to 
be taken, and which is easily determined as above. 

III.— SOIL AND SITUATION. 

Downing says that strong loams, by which is meant loams 
with only just sufficient sand to render them friable and easily 
worked, are, on the whole, by far the best for fruit in this 
country. The trees do not come into bearing so soon as on a 
light, sandy soil, but they bear larger crops, are less liable to 
disease, and are much longer lived. Clayey loams, when well 
drained, are good, and trees growing on them are generally 
free from insects. 

It is difficult to give any precise rules in reference to aspect. 
Good orchards may be found in all aspects ; but a gentle slope 
to the southwest is generally to be preferred to any other. 
Where fruit is very liable to be killed by late spring frosts, and 
the season is long and warm enough to ripen it in any exposure, 
planting on the north sides of hills is practiced with advantage. 
Deep valleys with small streams of water should be avoided, 
as the cold air settles down in such places, and frosts are apt to 
prove fatal; but the borders of large rivers and lakes are 
favorable for orchards, as the climate is rendered milder by the 
presence of large bodies of water. 



The Orchard. 145 



IV.-PLANTING AND CULTIVATING AN ORCHARD. 

At the risk of repeating in part what has already been pub- 
lished in " The Garden," we will add a hint or two under this 
head. 

The first thing is to prepare the ground by underdraining (if 
it require it, as most land does), subsoiling, or trench plowing, 
harrowing, manuring, etc. 

Choose sound, healthy trees for planting, and set them out 
carefully, as directed in " The Garden." Apple-trees should be 
thirty feet apart in orchard culture. Set the same kind in rows 
together. This will facilitate the gathering of the fruit, and 
improve the appearance of the orchard. 

"It is an indispensable requisite in all young orchards to 
keep the ground mellow and loose by cultivation ; at least for 
the first few years, until the trees are well established. In- 
deed, of two adjoining orchards, one planted and kept in grass, 
and the other plowed for the first five years, there will be an 
incredible difference in favor of the latter. Not only will these 
trees show a rich, dark, luxuriant foliage, and clean, smooth 
stems, while those neglected will have a sickly look, but the 
size of the trees in the cultivated orchard will be treble that of 
the others at the end of this time, and a tree in one will be 
ready to bear an abundant crop before the other has commenced 
yielding a peck of good fruit. Fallow crops are best for or- 
chards — potatoes, beets, carrots, bush beans, and the like ; but 
whatever crops may be grown, it should be constantly borne in 
mind that the roots of the tree require the sole occupancy of 
the ground, so far as they extend, and therefore that an area 
of more than the diametc of the head of the tree should be 
kept clean of crops, weeds, and grass."* 

To keep your trees in a healthy, bearing state, regular ma- 
nuring is requisite. They exhaust the soil, like any other crop. 



* Downing. 

7 



146 The Farm. 

Top-dressings of marl, or mild lime, may alternate with barn- 
yard manure, muck composts, etc. 

To prevent the attacks of the apple-borer, place about the 
trunks early in the spring a small mound of ashes or lime. 
Nursery trees may be protected by washing the stems in May, 
quite down to the ground, with a solution of two pounds of 
potash in eight quarts of water. 

V.-THE PEOFITS OF APPLE CULTUKE. 

" There is no question of the propriety and necessity of the 
farmer planting apples enough to supply abundantly his own 
table with the best of this fruit through the whole year; but 
further than this, we require to know whether a large extent 
of land may be usefully applied to raising apples for sale ; and 
about what returns may he expected from such orchards, with 
good management; and what 'good management' is. 

" There are some varieties, which, although possessing supe- 
rior qualities for home use, and therefore necessary in the family 
orchard, are not salable, and, of course, worthless for market- 
ing. A fruit for sale must at least be fair and good looking ; it 
ought, also, to be of fine quality, to bring the best price; it 
must also be a sure and good bearer, and one that keeps long 
enough to insure carriage to market, and a reasonable period 
for selling. We find among all the sorts which are known to 
our nurserymen and orchardists, that there are few that havr 
all these qualifications to such an extent that they can safely be 
recommended. A close inquiry will show that, in all mixed 
orchards, the profit has been derived from a very few sorts. 
Other kinds are found to yield some superior specimens, and to 
be well worth raising for one's own satisfaction, but, so far as 
money is concerned, the soil would be more profitably employed 
if planted with other crops. 

" Soil and situation fit for an apple orchard must always be 
valuable for other purposes ; and as none but the best of lands 
can be depended upon, the value of such lands is consequently 
high. We are safe in assuming that land fit for such use, ia 



The Okchakd. 147 

Western New York, is worth, on an average, one hundred dol- 
lars per acre, the annual rent of which should be at least ten 
dollars per acre. 

"This is more than would generally be realized net profit 
from the crops for some years after the planting of an orchard 
upon it; and at the end of ten years (at which time we might 
presume the trees to be in a bearing state), there would be a 
balance due from the orchard to the planter. After this time, 
the crops from the orchard should not be reckoned worth much, 
as the trees will occupy the whole soil with their roots, and the 
6un and air with their branches. 

"Ten years from planting, Baldwin and Rhode Island Green- 
ing apple-trees can be relied upon to bear about three barrels 
per tree, each bearing year, which occurs each alternate year 
with the Baldwin, and generally so with the Greening. This 
gives us sixty barrels of fine winter apples per year, from trees 
planted two rods apart, or forty trees per acre. The whole 
annual expense of cultivation, and the gathering and barreling, 
will scarcely amount to twenty-five dollars, leaving the net 
proceeds, if sold at one dollar per barrel, about thirty -five dol- 
lars per acre. This sum per acre will soon repay any balance 
due the planter, and the rapidly increasing produce of the trees, 
for many years, will satisfy any reasonable man of the expedi- 
ency of planting large orchards, where the conditions of success 
are observed; but it will readily be seen that an orchard of any 
but the best varieties will not pay interest and care. 

"It is important that the fruit-grower should base his ex- 
pectations entirely upon the results to be derived from a series 
of years, and not from any less period of time ; otherwise he 
will be found wide from the truth."* 

* " Eural Annual." 



149 



APPENDIX. 



A. 

MEASURING LAND. 
Farmers often desire to lay off small portions of land for the purpose of ex- 
perimenting with manures, crops, etc. ; but sometimes find difficulty in doing 
It correctly, for the lack of a few simple rules. The following table and ac- 
companying explanation, which we copy from the New England Farmer 
carefully studied, will make the whole matter perfectly clear. 

ONE ACRE CONTAINS 

160 square rods ; 4,840 square yards ; 43,560 square feet 

ONE ROD CONTAINS 

80.25 square yards ; 272.i5 square feet. 
One square yard contains nine square feet 

THE SIDE OF A SQUARE TO CONTAIN 

One acre 208.71 feet 12.65 rods 64 

One-half acre 147.58 " 8.94 " 45 

One-third acre 120.50 " 7.30 " 37 

One-fourth acre 104.36 " 6.32 " 32 

One-eighth acre 73.79 " 4.47 " 22J 





208.71 feet. 






12.65 rods. 






* 




ec 

o 


10486. 






52.18. 






i 








1-16. 










52.18. 


52.18. 




104.36. 





20S.71 feet. 



150 



Appendix. 



It will be seen by reference to the plan that a practice sometimes followed 
by farmers is very erroneous ; if the side of a square containing one acre mea- 
sures 208.71 feet, one half that length will not make a square containing one 
half an acre, but only one fourth an acre, and one third the length of line will 
inclose a square of one ninth an acre, and one fourth the line, squared, will 
contain one sixteenth an acre, and so on. 



B. 

HOW TO ESTIMATE CHOPS PER ACEE. 

A friend communicates the following method of making an estimate of the 
yield per acre of a growing crop, of wheat, rye, oats, or barley, which he says 
has been found correct in England. As it seems easy of application, and ap- 
proximately correct, we give the plan, and hope it will be tried at the next 
harvest-time. 

Frame together four light sticks, measuring exactly a foot square inside, and, 
with this in hand, walk into the field and select a spot of fair average yield, 
and lower the frame square over as many heads as it will inclose, and shell out 
the heads thus inclosed carefully, and weigh the grain. It is fair to presume 
that the product will be the 48,560th part of an acre's produce. To prove it, 
go through the field, and make ten or twenty similar calculations, and estimate 
by the mean of the whole number of results. It will certainly enable a farmer 
to make a closer calculation of what a field will produce, than he can do by 
guessing. — New York Tribune. 



NUMBER OF PLANTS PER ACRE. 

NUMBEB OF PLANTS OE TEEES THAT CAN BE PLANTED ON AN ACEE OP GB0TTN1), 
AT THE FOLLOWING DISTANCES APAET, IN FEET. 



1 
1^ 


b J 


2 


'• 


2 


u 


2* 


u 


8 


u 


<* 


II 


a 


(( 


9\ 


u 


4 


It 


4 


" 


4 


" 


4 


u 


4* 


" 


5 


" 


5 


II 


5 


II 


5 


II 


5 


" 


5+ 


" 


6 


II 


6* 


« 



apart. 

1 

1| 


No. of Plants. 

43,560 

19,360 

21,780 

10,890 

6,969 

14,520 

7,260 

4,840 

3,555 

10,890 

5,445 

3,630 

2,722 

2,151 

8,712 


Distanc 

7 
8 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 
15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
24 
25 
27 
30 
40 
50 
60 
66 


es apart. 

by 7 

" 8 


No. of Plant 

888 

680 


1 

2 

2i 

1 

2 

8 

?::::::::: 

2 

8 


" 9. 

" 10 

« 11 


537 

435 

860 


" 12 

" 13 

" 14 

" 15 

" 16 

" 17 

« 18 


802 

257 

222 

193 

170 

150 

134 


4 


" 19 


120 


4* 

1 


" 20 

" 24 

" 25 

" 27 

" 30 

♦' 40 


108 

75 


2 


4,356 


69 


8 


2,904 


59 


4 

5 


2,178 

1,742 

1,417 

1,210 

1,031 


48 

27 


5* 

6 

6* 


" 50 

" 60 

« 66 


:::::...::: it 

12 

10 



Appendix. 



151 



Multiply the distances into each other, and divide it by the square feet in i 
acre, or 43,560, and the quotient is the number of plants. 

D. 

WEIGHTS AND MEASUEES. 

WEIGHT OF GRAIN, ETC. 









<B 














X 














ARTICLES. 





c 





a 


a 
c 


f 


| 


a 


s 

a 

a 


1 
1 


a 

s 

— 
c 


M 

- 


I 


' 

B 


5 


a 




fc 


O 


a. 


~ 


? 


- 


B 


3 


u 


s 


X 


M 


fe 


> 


S 


o 


Wheat, lb 

Eye 


60 


60 


6(1 


60 


6n 


60 


60 


60 


56 


60 




60 


60 


&i 


60 


60 


Sfi 


56 


56 


56 


56 


56 


54 


56 


56 


56 




56 


56 


5b 


:o 


bb 


5S 
32 

48 
48 


56 
82 

4S 


56 
32 
47 
48 


5t. 
32 

50 


56 
32 
48 
42 


56 
35 

48 
52 


56 
82 
44 
40 


56 

32 
48 
42 


56 
28 

45 


56 
30 

46 
46 




56 
33 

4s 
52 


66 
80 

4s 

50 


56 
32 

46 
46 


02 

in 
m 
m 


56 
34 

48 
48 


Oats 




Buckwheat 


Clover-seed 


60 


64 




60 


6n 


60 




6(1 








60 


64 




in 


60 


Timothy-seed . . 


44 


4-.' 




45 




45 




in 




in 




4b 






in 


48 


Flax-seed 


55 


56 




56 




56 




m 




m 




5 b 


56 




in 


ob 


Hemp-seed 


44 






44 




44 






















Blue-grass seed. 


14 






14 




14 




:: 


















Apples, dried . . 
Peaches, dried. 


22 


25 






SSii 


24 


.. j!S 
















22 


32 


83 






28 


33 




28 
















22 


Coarse salt 


56 


50 


S5 


50 




50 








'(0 




60 






50 


56 


Fine salt 


56 


5n 


62 


50 




50 








10 




00 






00 


56 


Potatoes 


60 






60 




60 






60 


60 


60 






6 i 








go 

62 


56 




60 




60 








60 
60 




60 








bO 
60 


Beans 


Castor beans. .. 


40 






46 




46 






















Onions. 


5; 






57 




57 








00 


50 












Corn meal 








50 














Eiu 












J Mineral coal.. . 




1 •■ 




70 








.. 1 .. 











A law of New York, in force at the present time, adopts the United States 
bushel of measure, viz. : 2150.42 cubic inches per bushel, 1075.21 half bushel ; 
and the wine gallon, 231 cubic inches. 

To reduce cubic feet to bushels, struck measure, divide the cubic feet by 56, 
and multiply by 45. 

BOX MEASURES. 

Farmers and market gardeners will find a series of box measures very use- 
fill ; and they can readily be made by any one who understands the two-foot 
rule, and can handle the saw and the hammer. The following measurements, 
it will be seen, vary slightly from the United States bushel adopted by some of 
the States, but are sufficiently accurate for all ordinary purposes : 

A box 16 by 16£ inches square, and 8 inches deep, will contain a bushel, 
2150.4 cubic inches, each inch in depth holding one gallon. 

A box 24 by 11.2 inches square, and S inches deep, will also contain a bushel 
or 215 .4 cubic inches, each in depth holding one gallon. A box 12 by 11.2 
inches square, an 1 8 inches deep, will contain half a bushel, or 1075.2 cubio 
inches, each inch in depth holding half a gallon. 



152 Appendix. 

A box 8 by S.4 inches square, and 8 inches deep, will contain half a peck, or 
298.S cubic inches. Tl e gallon, dry measure. 

A box 4 by 4 inches square, and 4.2 inches deep, will contain one quart, or 
67.2 cubic inches. 

WEIGHT PER CXTBIC FOOT. 

Weights of a Cubic Foot of various Substances, from which the Bulk of a Load 
of one Ton may be easily calculated. 



Common soil, compact, about.. 124 " 

Clay, about 135 " 

Clay with stones, about. ..... .160 " 

Brick, about 125 " 



Cast iron 450 lbs. 

Water 62 " 

White pine, seasoned, about .. 30 " 
White oak, " " .. 52 " 
Loose earth, about 95 " 

Bulk of a Ton of different Substances. 
23 cubic feet of sand, IS cubic feet of earth, or 17 cubic feet of clay, make a 
ton. 18 cubic feet of gravel or earth, before digging, make 27 cubic feet when 
dug ; or the bulk is increased as three to two. Therefore, in filling a drain two 
feet deep above the tile or stones, the earth should be heaped up a foot above 
the surface, to settle even with it, when the earth is shoveled loosely in. 

E. 

UNPROFITABLE FARMING. 

Manure is a necessary application, in order to bring an impoverished soil 
Into a productive state. Nothing is more certain, all agree. And yet how 
much of the unprofitable farming of the country results from the attempt to 
grow crops on worn-out soils without manure ! Plant corn on such laud — the 
crop is a meager one, both from want of strength in the soil to grow it, and 
length of the season to mature it, A rich or well-manured soil will ripen this 
crop weeks earlier than a poor one. An acre of land, rich, deeply tilled, 
planted in good season, and thoroughly and cleanly cultivated, will produce 
more corn than five acres poor, shallow-plowed, late-planted, and half-culti- 
vated, and at perhaps one half the expense of the latter. 

Stagnant water, either in or upon the soil, is another cause of unprofitable 
farming. A soil which has no escape or outlet for the water which falls upon 
it save evaporation, can not be made to produce a paying crop. In a dry sea* 
son it is baked and hard— in a wet one it is often flooded with stagnant water, 
and is never in a condition very favorable to the growth of cultivated crops, 
however well suited it may be to the production of wild grass, flag, and rushes. 
And partially drained land of this character is little better. Flooded in spring, 
the water passes off but slowly; nothing can be done upon it until the "sub- 
siding of the waters," which, as they must in great part go cloudward, is a 
tedious process. 

Poor manure— made so by exposure and leaching while yet in the yard— i? 
another sturce of loss to the farmer. The contents of the barn-yard are gen- 
erally dignified with the name of manure ; even if they consist of little more 
than a leached mass of straw and excrement, the real strength of which has 
long ago passed off into some stream, or floated down the roadside ditch, and 



Appendix. 153 

into some provident neighbor's field, it is still " manure," and is carted to the 
field and offered to the crop, with the expectation that it will find therein nu- 
triment, and the material for large productiveness. One thought will show 
how futile this expectation. How does manure benefit a plant ? By ils soluble 
constituents — they receive only liquid food. This leached manure has lost the 
greater share of the soluble elements of fertility, and acts in great part only 
mechanically upon the soil. 

Attempting too much is another great cause of loss to the farmer. " Much 
labor on little land" is the secret of success— enough labor, at least, to do every 
thing in the best manner. Look at it— is it good policy to expend the labor of 
putting in a crop over six acres, when, at the same cost, a like result may be 
realized from three or four? Will you be content with thirty bushels of corn 
per acre, at an expense of, say $12, when, by adding $3 in manure and better 
culture, you may realize sixty or one hundred bushels ? Will you grow infe- 
rior stock with the same amount of food, when by a larger outlay at first you 
may have the best — those always salable at good prices— while the unimproved 
scarcely find purchasers at any price ? Is it not best, either to concentrate 
your labor on less land, or increase your expenditure so as to embrace the 
whole farm in a thorough system of cultivation ? 

The acknowledged causes of unprofitable farming are not exhausted, and it 
is a proper subject for the examination of the farmer. Let him look into tho 
matter, and see where and why he has failed. — Country Gentleman. 

F. 
FACTS ABOUT WEEDS. 
Dr. Lindley estimates as a low average the following number of seeds from 
each of these four plants : 

1 plant of Groundsel produces 2,080 ] 

1 " Dandelion " 2,740 I 1ft Q ra «i„„»o 

1 « Sow Thistle » 1 1;<)40 \ 16 ' 360 P Iant9 ' 

1 " Spurge " 540 J 

or enough seed from these four plants to cover three acres and a half, at three 
feet apart. To hoe this land, he says, will cost 6s. (sterling) per acre, and 
hence a man throws away 5s. 3d. a time, as often as he neglects to bend his 
back to pull up a young weed before it begins to fulfill the first law of nature. 
He recommends every farmer, whose vertebral column will not bend, to count 
the number of dandelions, sow thistles, etc., on the first square rod he can 
measure off. 

This operation may be repeated in this country by applying all the above 
estimates to pig-weed, burdock, fox-tail, chick-weed, and purslane. 

G. 

SUCCESSFUL FAEMING. 
James Gowen, of Mount Airy, near Philadelphia, raised, in 1845, a ten-acre 
field of corn, which averaged 95 bushels of shelled corn per acre. It had been 
in grass without manure, five years ; it was plowed, and the field manured 

7 



154 Appendix. 

with a ton of guano, costing $40. The rows were 3| feet apart, and the plants 
12 inches. (This distance would be too great for small Northern corn.) Judi- 
cious harrowing, in preparation, cleared the ground thoroughly of grass and 
weeds, and it was kept perfectly clean afterward at little cost. There were 7 
acres of winter wheat, and one of spring wheat, (he whole computed to aver- 
age over 4" bushels per acre. The spring wheat was after an acre of carrots, 
of 900 bushels, and was followed by an acre of turnips of l,n() ! bushels; the 
whole worth over #600 — from one acre in two years. The carrot crop the same 
year was 1 ,00 * bushels per acre; sugar-parsnep, SO bushels; ruta-baga, over 
C00 bushels; potatoes, 8 acres, over 200 bushels each. These were only part 
of the crops. Besides, there were more than 100 tons of excellent hay, though 
the season was unfavorable. All on an upland farm of about mo acres, which 
maintained during the summer over 60 head of cattle. So much for manure, 
eubsoiling, fine culture, draining, rotation, etc. — Annual Register. 

II. 
STIKEING THE SOIL. 

Every observant farmer must have noticed the crust which forms on the sur- 
face of newly-stirred soils, after lying a few days to the action of the dews. A 
much heavier crust is formed by each shower of rain which falls. Good and 
successful cultivation requires that this newly-formed crust be often and repeat- 
edly broken by the hoe, harrow, or other instrument, 

A striking instance in proof of the importance of this practice has just been 
etated by an extensive farmer. He planted a field of broom corn, and, by way 
of banter, told the man who assisted him that each should choose a row as 
nearly alike as possible, and each should hoe his row, and the measured 
amount of crop on each should be the proof which was hoed best. Our inform- 
ant stated the result in substance as follows : " Determined not to be beaten, 
I hoed my row, well, once a week the summer through. I had not seen my 
assistant hoe his at all, but had observed that for a long time he was up in the 
morning before me. At length I found him before sunrise, hoeing his broom- 
corn, and I asked him how often he hoed it ; he answered, ' Once a day, regu- 
larly.' The result of the experiment was, his row beat mine by nearly double 
the amount."— Ibid. 



155 



INDEX. 



A. 

PAOK 

Agriculture History of 9 

" Improvement of 11 

Ashes 41 

Apple Culture, Profits of 146 

B. 

Bones, how to prepare them 87 

Barley 110 

Buckwheat 13 

Beans 115 

Beet. 12S 

Broom Corn 186 

C. 

Crops, What they take from the Soil 27 

" Rotation of 48, 97 

" Farm 100 

" How to Estimate 150 

Composts 45 

Capital >3 

Corn, Indian 100 

Carrot 127 

Cotton. l!4 

Chinese Sugar-Cane 135 

D. 

Drains, Construction of. 55 

Draining 51 

" Ten Reasons for. bl 

" Conditions requiring . . 58 

" Practical Directions for. 53 

" Will it Pay? 58 

F. 

Fences 61, 91 

" Iron 63 

" Hurdle 66 

" Are they Necessary ? 70 

Facts about Weeds 153 

Farm Management, Essay on 82 

Farm Crops 100 

Farming, Unprofitable 152 

t( Successful 153 

Flax 137 



PAOH 

Guano 85 

Gypsum 39 

Gates 91 

Grains, Edible. 1(10 

Grain, How to Shock 114 

Grasses 129 

H. 

Hedges 66 

Harrow 76 

Hoe, Horse 78 

Hemp 187 

Hop 137 

How to Estimate Crops 150 

I. 

Irrigation 46 

Implements 73 

" List and prices of 85 

" Choice of 92 

Indinn Corn 100 

K. 
KohlRabi 126 

L. 

Lime 88 

Livestock. 85 

" Maintenance of 87 

Land, How to Measure 149 

M. 

Manures, Necessity of 25 

" Classification and De- 
scription of. 28 

" Management of 42, 04 

Marl 38 

Mowers SI 

Millet 114,131 

Measuring Land 149 

vi easures, Weights and 151 

Maintenance of Livestock. 87 



156 



Index 



N. 

NightSoil A< 35 

Number of Plants to the Acre .... i5o 

0. 

Oat 108 

Orchards, Laying out 140 

" Soil and Situation for . . 144 



P. 

Plants, Food of 26 

" Number to the Acre 150 

Plow 73 

Pea 117 

Pea-nut 118 

Potato 118 

" Sweet 122 

Parsnep 128 

E. 

Rotation, Theory of 48 

" Benefits of. 49,97 

Eoller, Field 79 

Eake, Horse 8<) 

Eeapers 81 

Eye 107 

Eioe HI 



S. 

PAOK 

Soils, Classification of 18 

" Analysis of 16 

" Physical Properties of. 18 

" Improvement of. 21, 93 

" Importance of stirring the. 154 

Subsoils 28 

Salt 40 

Seeds 86 

Seed-Sowers 80 

Sweet Potato 122 

Sugar-Cane 135 

" Chinese 135 

Successful Farming 153 

Stirring the Soil. .. • 154 

T. 
Turnip 125 

IT. 

Urine 88 

Unprofitable Farming 152 

W. 

Wheat 104 

Weights and Measures 114 

Weeds, Facta about 158 




•woo:dw^.:r,:e)'s 




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Brown's Field Book of Manures 1 50 

Buist's Family Kitchen Gardener 1 00 

Burr's Field and Garden Vegetables of America 5 00 

Canary Birds, Manual for Birdkeepers 50 

Carpenters' and Joiners' Handbook 75 

Cobbett's American Gardener 75 

Cole's Veterina rian 75 

Coleman's Agriculture... 4 00 

Darlington's American "Weeds and Useful Plants 1 75 

Dana's Muck Manual . 1 50 

Dana's Essays on Manures 30 

Dadd's Anatomy and Physiology of the Horse » Plain 3 50 

Dadd's Horse Doctor. 1 60 

Dadd's Catt'e Doctor 1 50 

Davies Preparation and Mounting of Microscopic Objects 1 50 

Farmers' Every Day Book, octavo, 650 pages 3 00 

Flint on Grasses and Forage Plants - 2 50 

Flint on Milch Cows.. 2 50 

Flora's Interpreter and Fortuna Flora, (Mrs. Hale) 1 50 

French's Farm Drainage . 1 50 

Garlick's Treatise on Propagation of Fish. . . . -. 1 25 

Gray's Manual of Botany 4 50 

Guenon's Treatise on Milch Cows 75 

Harris'— Insects injurious to Vegetation .. Plan Pates 4 00 

« " " " ....Colored " 5 00 

Harris' Rural Annual for 1866 25 

Herbert's Hints to Horsekeepers * 1 75 

Hooper's Dog and Gun ... 30 

How to Get a Farm, and Where to Find it 1 75 

How to Write, Talk, Behave and do Business 2 25 

Ik Marvel's F.,rm of Edgewood 2 00 

Insect Enemies of Fruit Trees, (Trimble) 8 00 

Jennings on Cattle 2 00 

Jennings on Swine and Poultry. . » . 2 00 

Jennings on the Horse and his Diseases. 2 00 

Johnston's Elements of Agricultural Chemistry 1 25 

Johnston's Agricultural Chemistry 1 75 

Klippart's Farm Drainage 1 50 

Klip part's Wheat Plant 1 50 

Langstroth on th • Honey Bee 2 00 

Liebig's Natural Laws of Husbandry 1 50 

Liebig's Familiar Letters on Chemistry &0 

Lineley'e Morgan Horses 1 50 

5 



Agricultural^ Horticultural and Architectural Books. 



Manual of Agriculture, Emerson & Flint $ 1 50 

" of Flax Culture 50 

" of Hop Culture 40 

" of theFarm cloth 1 00 

" of the Garden " i 00 

" of Domestic Animals " 100 

Mayhew's illustrated Horse Doctor 3 50 

Mayhew's " Horse Management 3 50 

Mayhew's Practical Book-Keeping for Farmers 90 

Blanks for do do 1 20 

McMahon's American Gardener 3 00 

Miles on Horses Foot 30 

Miss Hall, Cookery and Domestic Economy ] 50 

Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book *. 1 50 

Mis? Beecher's Domestic Economy 1 50 

Morrell's American Shepherd. 1 50 

Munn's Practical Land Drainer 75 

New Clock and "Watch Maker's Manual 2 00 

No ton's Scientific Agriculture 75 

Onion Culture 25 

Orchard House Culture, by C. M. Hovey 1 25 

Our Farm of Four Acres, paper, 30 cents ; bound 60 

Our Farm i f Two Acres 20 

Quinby's Mystery of Bee-keeping 1 75 

Portfolio Paper File, {Country Gentleman) $1 and 1 50 

Pedder's Land Measurer, for Farmers 60 

Phenomena of Plant Life, (Geo. H. Grindon) 1 00 

Randall's Fine Wool Sheep Husbandry 1 00 

Randall's Sheep Husbandry 1 50 

Ready Reckoner 50 

Richardson, On Dogs 30 

Rivers' Orchard House , 50 

Schenck's Gardeners' Text-Book 75 

Shepherds' Own Book 2 25 

Skillful Housewife 75 

Stewart's Stable-Book 1 50 

Saunders' Domestic Poultry parer 30c. cloth 60 

Sparrowgrass Papers 2 00 

Ten Acres Enough 1 50 

Tenny's Natural History and Zoology 3 00 

Thompson's Food of Animals 1 00 

Tobacco Culture 25 

Todd's Young Farmer's Manual I 50 

The Great West 1 00 

Tucker's Annual Register of Rural Affairs, Nos. 1 to 12, each 30 

Tucker's Rural Affairs, Four Bound Vols., each containing three numbers 

of the Annual Register, printed on larger and finer pape>-, per vol. ... 1 50 

Turner's Cotton Planter's Manual 1 50 

Wai-ing's Elements of Agriculture 1 00 

Watson's American Home Garden 2 00 

Wet Days at Edgewood, by Ik Marrel 2 00 

Wetherell on the Manufacture of Vinegar 1 50 

Youatt on the Horse 1 50 

Youatt on the Dog 2 00 

Youatt and Martin, On Cattle 1 50 

" " On the Hog 1 00 

Youatt, On Sheep 1 00 

Youmans' Household Science 2 25 

Youmans' New Chemistry 2 00 

Address, GEO. E. «fc P. W. WOODWARD, 

Publishers, 37 Pauk Row, New York. 




W O O ID WA PL ID'S 

o&m&ue 



AND 

HORTICULTURAL BUILDINGS, 

By GEO. E, & F, W. WOODWARD, Architects k Horticulturists. 

A new, practical and original Work on the Design and Con- 
struction of all classes of Horticultural Buildings, including 

Hotbeds, Propagating Houses, Hot and Cold Graperies, 
Orchard Houses, Conservatories, &c., 

With the best modes of Heating, &c. 

ELEG-ANT.LY ILLUSTRATED. 
Being the result of an extensive professional practice. 
Price $1 50, Mailed Free to any Address. 

This neatly printed and finely illustrated work upon Horticultural Buildings gives 
fuli information upon the position and furm of houses, manner of construction, 
heating, &c. Its plain directions for the erection and management of those structures, 
will command for it a wide sale, and being the result of the practical experience of 
well-known architects, its value as a hand-book to guide the novice will be highly 
respected.— llaine, Farmer, 

GEO. E. & F. W. WOODWARD, 

PUBLISHERS, 

37 Park Row, N. Y. ^ 



THE 



DELAWARE GRAPE. 




A MAGNIFICENTLY COLORED PLATE, 

ON HEAVY ROYAL PAPER, FULL SIZE, 

Being the finest thing of the kind ever Published in this Country, 

Price per copy, mailed free, securely packed, Three Dollars. 

GEO. E. & F. W. WOODWARD, 

PUBLISHERS, 

37 Park Row, New York. 















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